An Eye For An Eye
by Bill K
Summary: Sailor Vesta travels to South America to meet the challenge of an old adversary whose vendetta against her has engulfed her old friends.
1. Call To Action

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 1: "Call To Action"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2013 by Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2013 by Bill K.

* * *

"And the entire situation is very distressing to me," the vid-stream of Queen Serenity said. She had consented to be interviewed by a leading member of the international press, with Luna surreptitiously sitting in the background. During the interview, she had consciously brought up the growing world problem of the misuse of cybernetic body parts. "I can't understand how someone could do such things to themselves."

"You're referring to the illicit augmentation of humans through cybernetic replacement parts?" the reporter clarified. Luna noticed the gleam in his eye and watched the situation intently, ready to intercede if Serenity allowed her passion to overtake her judgment.

"Yes," Serenity nodded. Everyone watching could see she was genuinely, visibly upset. "How someone could replace part of their own body with - - cold metal and printed circuitry is just beyond me."

"You've been a very vocal critic of cybernetic augmentation for much of your life," noted the reporter. "Why is that?"

Serenity exhaled. "I've seen what it can do," she replied. "I've seen how it can be misused."

"You're referring to the self-styled champion of artificial life, Viluy?"

"I've had several run-ins with her over the years," Serenity related with distaste. "She was and is a very brilliant woman, but one who just - - doesn't understand the sanctity of human life. She doesn't understand what a miraculous gift human life is. And these people who do this don't understand, either."

"Cybernetic replacement has been hailed as a cure for people with physical deformities and afflictions, particularly in cases where cellular tissue regeneration is inapplicable or unavailable."

"I understand that these things can do good," Serenity replied. Luna noted that she was as grave and as serious as the cat could ever remember the Queen being. "Anything, when used to help someone overcome an affliction or a difficulty is a good thing. But cutting someone's arm off and replacing it with an artificial arm that can fire lasers isn't a good thing. It's wrong. It doesn't help."

"The people doing the surgery would claim that the people they're augmenting are benefiting by being able to survive and protect themselves in a dangerous environment," the reporter suggested. Serenity gave him a dubious look.

"Even I don't believe that," Serenity said. "Anyone who does that to another person, whether for money or for misguided political or social philosophy, is mistaken about what is justified in the world. You don't consciously do that to another human being. And anyone who thinks getting an artificial body part to make them stronger or faster makes them a better person is fooling themselves. Being a better person begins in here." She put her hands over her heart. "By loving people and caring for them and helping them. That's how you become a better person. It's not easy, but it is the only way. That other way is just a false hope that can only lead to tragedy."

Usa and Hotaru sat in a café on the Promenade, casually dining and chatting while the interview played on a large video screen on one of the walls. Usa, disguised by using a miniature holographic image distortion unit, would glance at the video screen from time to time. To the others in the café, she looked like a young woman with fine black hair running down her back and gathered at the shoulders. Usa did it only so she and Hotaru could have a day out without being constantly approached by fans and thrill-seekers. For her part, Hotaru realized that Usa's attention had wandered to her mother when the interview first came on and suspended the conversation to allow her friend to watch.

"You can always tell when Mom feels strongly about something," Usa grinned. "You know, she actually had Luna set this interview up."

"Really?" Hotaru replied. "Queen Serenity usually doesn't seek out publicity."

"She does when something's bothering her," Usa explained. "And when she heard about what was going on in the Americas and Africa with people beginning to get augmented, well that just set her off."

"She feels that strongly?"

"Well, it's been a problem every so often," Usa shrugged. "Every hundred to two hundred years, it seems like somebody gets the idea to start cybernetically augmenting humans because they want to build a super-army or they see humongous profits in it. And it always seems to erupt into some regional conflict between humans and cyborgs until finally a local government bans cybernetic augmentation and it dies down - - until the next time."

"And her encounters with Viluy haven't helped," Hotaru concluded. "Viluy isn't behind all of this, is she?"

"No, I checked with Pluto," Usa shook her head. "Viluy is still trapped in that time loop and couldn't possibly be behind it. Of course, she wasn't the only one capable of designing and using cybernetic tech. That's been a constant through the years, too."

Usa grinned suddenly. Hotaru gave her a silent query.

"There is one good thing from all of this," Usa explained. "Mom's not pestering me with wedding plans."

"I haven't understood your reaction to this at all," Hotaru commented. "I thought marrying Helios was your dream."

Usa exhaled. "It is," she admitted. "But I want to marry him when WE want to. I want it to be OUR idea, not hers. I don't want to marry Helios just because she hasn't arranged a wedding in, like, fifteen minutes and she's going through withdrawal. THANKFULLY this came up. I pity those poor people who are adversely affected by it, but it sure took the heat off of me."

"Poor little Princess," Hotaru mockingly sighed.

"Oh, shut up," Usa smirked.

* * *

The day after the Queen's public appearance, Ves entered the quarters she shared with the other Amazon Senshi and reflexively scanned the room for trouble. It was an old habit from her days on the streets. All she found, though, was Palla-Palla absorbed in the millionth viewing of an episode of "Yumi-Chan's Toy Shop". Jun and Cere weren't there.

She had been in the palace gym, working out. In addition to her senshi training, Ves worked out religiously for one hour every day - - two if she could squeeze it in. A towel was draped over her neck. Her skin glistened with perspiration and the close-fitting tank top and workout shorts were stuck to her body. To anyone looking at her, though, she didn't seem tired. She seemed alive.

"So where is everybody?" Ves grunted. She waited for Palla-Palla to respond, and Palla-Palla waited for an appropriate break in the program.

"Jun-Jun is in the library, studying for her mid-term test," Palla-Palla reported. "She says you should be doing the same."

"Jun worries too much," Ves sneered. "And I guess Cere is out drooling over that skinny artist?"

"No, Cere is in the garden caring for the pretty flowers and trees," Palla-Palla told her. "She says you should be studying, too, and maybe if you did you'd know what an 'A' looks like."

"Priss," huffed Ves. "I'm going to hit the shower."

Palla-Palla nodded and turned her attention back to Miss Yumi-Chan and Bun-Bun. After twenty minutes, Ves emerged clean and refreshed. She wore her pressure pants and a loose top. Palla-Palla was still absorbed with Yumi-Chan and Ves couldn't tell if it was a different episode or the same one over again. They all looked alike to her.

"You going to watch that all day?" Ves asked.

"No," Palla-Palla replied. "PKE class is at four. Palla-Palla can't be late. Sensei will be mad."

"It's only two thirty now."

"That's right," Palla-Palla replied. Ves expelled a breath. "You got a video message while you were in the shower."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Ves-Ves needed a shower," Palla-Palla scowled. "You were stinky."

Dismissing the comment, Ves went to her computer station and brought up the message. The code on the end of the file indicated that the message was from Brasilia. Hitting play, the face of Ves's old friend from Sao Paulo, Sancha, appeared on the screen. Instantly Ves's senses went on alert. Sancha was visibly upset.

"Vanessa!" Sancha said urgently. "They've got him! They've got my little Jaime! Please, you've got to come! I need your help!"

So involved with the message was she that Ves didn't notice until that moment Palla-Palla standing next to her. The message ended and the screen went back to saver mode.

"Who is Jaime?" Palla-Palla asked innocently.

"Sancha's little boy," Ves said, bolting from the chair. She crossed over to her room and emerged moments later stuffing a transaction card into her back pocket. "She and Martin got married and she had a son about six months ago."

"Take Palla-Palla with you," Palla-Palla said suddenly. Ves stopped and stared at her. "You're going to Brasilia to help your friend, Miss Sancha-Ma'am. Palla-Palla wants to go, too. She wants to help."

"Don't take this wrong, Palla-Palla," Ves said, gripping her sister's arms for emphasis. "I'm going to be traveling fast and light. You'd only slow me down. So would anybody else."

"You're not going to get the King's permission?" Palla-Palla gasped, reading Ves's plans telepathically.

"I can't," Ves told her. "I don't have time for permission and red tape. Brasilia's half a world away and Sancha needs help now. I have to go NOW."

"But Ves-Ves," whimpered Palla-Palla.

"Look, Sancha's in trouble and I have to help her, just like if you were in trouble. I'd have to help you. The way you can help me is keep quiet about this and cover for me here. OK?"

Palla-Palla stared at her, on the verge of tears. But finally she nodded. Ves leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, then raced out the door, leaving her sister behind.

"Please don't get hurt, Ves-Ves," Palla-Palla said to herself. "Palla-Palla wouldn't like that at all."

* * *

Hotaru exhaled with fatigue as she exited the palace infirmary. Another afternoon interning as a medical assistant was done and while she wouldn't trade the experience she was gaining for anything, it could be exhausting at times. And things would get even worse because she had just qualified for the Tokyo University viral pre-med course of study. It would be a lot of time spent hitting the books.

"Memory crystals," she reminded herself. Books, while they still existed, were relics of the twenty-first century, like she sometimes still was. And this was the thirtieth century.

And the time spent learning and studying was even longer now than the twenty-first century, due to all of the medical advances between then and now. It would occupy a lot of her time, time she used to spend with her friends - - and Yutaka.

As if by design, Hotaru came across Yutaka in the corridor on the way to her quarters. The waif's face lit up upon seeing him, matched only by the joy on his face at seeing her.

"Hi, Hotaru," he said, instantly seizing her hands. She looked up at him and smiled. "It's so good to see you. It seems like we hardly see each other anymore, what with my engineering studies and all. I've missed you."

"I've missed you," she echoed. "How are things going?"

"I'm getting it," the youth shrugged. "Pulled a few 'A's. Mostly 'B's, though. I guess I'll just have to work harder. How about you? When do you start pre-med?"

"Next week," she told him, "unless a senshi emergency comes up." Hotaru wanted to ask Yutaka something, but even now her chronic shyness made her chest tighten. "Y-Yutaka," she began. "Would you - - well, like to go out? Tonight?"

"I wish I could," Yutaka sighed, crestfallen. "I've got lab tonight." He brightened. "I'm free tomorrow."

"I have infirmary duty and then senshi practice," Hotaru sighed.

"This is so lousy!" fumed Yutaka. "We hardly get to see each other anymore!"

"I don't like it either," Hotaru moaned. They stood awkwardly for a moment.

"You want to at least grab a bite at the cafeteria?" Yutaka offered. "It's not much, but it's something."

"I'd rather spend a half hour with you than do anything else," Hotaru smiled. "Let me just page Michiru-Mama and tell her not to hold dinner for me."

And as the two headed down the corridor for their "date" in the noisy palace cafeteria, Hotaru began to wonder if maybe there was something she might trade her medical studies for after all.

* * *

Haneda Intercontinental Transportation Port was Crystal Tokyo's hub for all sub-orbital intercontinental stratospheric craft. Flights for all seven continents arrived and departed from this point, connecting with every major city on the planet.

Landing her air car in the Port's storage hangar, Ves got out and headed for the departure gate. It was at that point she came to a realization.

"I don't have the money for a sub-orbital flight to Brasilia," Ves thought. "And even if I did, the minute the transaction went through, King Endymion's computer would know about it. Or it would find out when my passport was scanned. He might stop me."

As passengers flooded past her, intent upon their destinations, Ves stood in the middle of the concourse and puzzled the problem out. Reaching a decision, she headed for one of the Port's restrooms.

"Vesta Crystal Power Make Up!" she called out. Seconds later her transformation into Sailor Vesta was complete. "Fauna Assimilation - - mouse!"

Transforming into a brown field mouse, Vesta scurried to the door. She had to stand up on her hind legs in order to be tall enough to trip the sensor that opened the door. Once out on the concourse, she hugged the walls and made her way out onto the launch pad for the intercontinental ship that would take her to Sao Paulo.

"Fauna Assimilation - - falcon!" the mouse said and transformed into a falcon.

Launching into the air, Vesta flew up alongside the ship, searching for a way on. The passenger dock was enclosed to protect the boarding passengers from the elements. Besides, if she flew in through the passenger portal, she would be noticed. Banking around the ship, she momentarily considered the fuel portal, but dismissed it as too dangerous. Then her keen falcon sight spotted the cargo bay.

Angling her flight toward the cargo portal, Vesta approached and looked for a way in. The cargo conveyor was enclosed as well to protect against the elements. However, the enclosure wasn't as complete as it was for the boarding passengers. Vesta approached the top of the covering.

"Fauna Assimilation - - squirrel!" the falcon said.

Transforming into a squirrel, Vesta acrobatically landed on the hood over the conveyor and scrambled across to the side. There were several open air panels in the covering and Vesta deftly squeezed through one. Once inside the conveyor covering, she dived down onto the cargo and hid between two bags until she was inside the ship.

Once inside, Vesta scurried out of the hold and into the part of the ship that would be pressurized. For a moment she thought about bluffing her way into the passenger section, but decided that there was too much risk of discovery. Then she recalled that there was a section in all intercontinental ships where animals were housed. She spent the next twenty minutes surreptitiously searching the ship for that section, hiding to avoid discovery on several occasions.

Only through her experience in clandestine searching of strange places, which she learned as a pre-teen burglarizing houses in Sao Paulo, did she find the section at all. Tripping the door sensor, Vesta scurried into the room and looked around. There were storage cages lining the room, but only two were occupied. The dogs that occupied them immediately started barking at her. Vesta ignored them and sought out a secure place to curl up and wait out the flight.

"With the other animals," she thought morbidly.

Minutes later, Vesta felt the ship lift off from Haneda Port. She was on her way to Sao Paulo. With any luck, she would complete the flight without being discovered and be in her old haunts in several hours.

Hopefully Sancha, Martin and little Jaime could hold out that long. Hopefully whatever was menacing them was something she could deal with.

Hopefully it wasn't already too late.

Continued in Chapter 2


	2. Missing Person

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 2: "Missing Person"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

It was one of those unusual occasions. Hotaru was tired from intern work and Helios was occupied with dream monitoring. Not wishing to dine by herself, the Princess made the supreme sacrifice and decided to dine with her parents that evening.

She wasn't looking forward to it. Under normal circumstances, her parents would have her take every meal in the royal quarters - - probably in a high chair. With obsessive thoughts of Royal Wedding Extravaganzas circling her mother's head, Usa was reluctant to get near her anymore, lest she give her mother another "inspiration". But dining alone always sucked and the Amazons were all busy. At least no one answered the page at their quarters.

"Hi, Pop! Hi, Mom," she said, entering the Royal Chambers. She knew dinner would be at this time because dinner was ALWAYS at this time. Her father liked things at the same time and it helped her mother remember. "What's for dinner?"

"I'm sorry," Endymion frowned. "The face seems vaguely familiar, but I can't quite place the name. Do we know you?"

"You're a scream, Pop," scowled the girl. She slumped into a chair. "Saw you on the video stream at lunch the other day, Mom. You really took a stand."

"It's something I feel strongly about. The thought of people being mutilated, or even worse intentionally mutilating themselves thinking that they're somehow improving themselves. It just depresses me." Serenity thought a moment. "I hope I didn't come across as too pushy."

"Pushy? You?" Usa grinned.

"Well I don't want people to think I'm trying to interfere in their lives," Serenity responded. "People need to make their own decisions."

"Using your influence to shape public opinion isn't interfering," Endymion told her. "And you do have considerable influence with a great many people. Expressing an opinion isn't forcing your view on someone."

"Have you gotten any negative feedback?" Usa inquired.

"The same arguments about how technology is improving our lives and I shouldn't be afraid of it," muttered Serenity. "And of course I had the same debate with Ami that I always have whenever this subject comes up. She is adamant that it isn't the fault of the technology, but the fault of people who misuse it."

"She's got a point," Usa commented between bites of rice.

"I agree!" exclaimed Serenity. "We just differ on how to solve the problem. I happen to think banning or severely regulating the technology keeps it out of the hands of people who'll misuse it." Serenity slumped back and scowled. "She disagrees."

As Usa neared the end of her meal, the hope that she could avoid the subject of weddings grew within her. But just then, Serenity's hand shot out and grasped onto her forearm.

"Oh, Honey, I saw the most wonderful gown on an internet stream today," Serenity beamed. Usa exhaled with fatigue. "It's off-the-shoulder and tight to the waist, to accent your, well, growing assets."

"They're called 'boobs', Mom," Usa scowled.

"How would it sound if I said my daughter had 'boobs'?" fussed Serenity.

"How would it sound if you just let ME and HELIOS decide when we're going to get married?" Usa shot back. "Aren't you the one who hates interfering in people's lives?"

"But Usa," Serenity replied, stricken. "All you've talked about since you were twelve was marrying Helios. I'm just trying to help."

"We don't NEED your help!" Usa fumed. "This isn't the fifteenth century and you don't have to arrange a marriage for me! I will marry Helios when I want, not when you want!"

"I understand that," Serenity gaped. Then she mumbled, "I just figure why wait."

"Pop, do something about her!" moaned the Princess.

"I'm just the King around here," grinned Endymion. "What makes you think I have any influence?"

"Usa, I know you want to be all 'independent and grown up' and make your own decisions," Serenity began. "If you want to delay it, we can - - although I don't understand why. He's a wonderful person. Why I would have married your father when I was fourteen if I could have. But if you have some reason why you want to wait," and the next words seemed to come with a little more difficulty for the Queen, "we can wait. The wedding plans will keep."

"And that's another thing," sighed Usa. "Why does it have to be some huge, gargantuan tacky spectacle?"

"Tacky?" gasped Serenity.

"What if Helios and I want to get married in a simple, intimate ceremony with just you and Pop and my friends?" Usa asked. "What if I don't want my wedding to be a show?"

Serenity reached out and covered her daughter's hand with hers.

"Because you're the Princess of Crystal Tokyo, Honey," Serenity told her. "You're not a normal person. And you're not just my child. You're the people's child. You have been for eighteen years now. Ever since you were born, the people of Japan have followed your every move: Your first Christmas, your first birthday, your first day of school. When you went back to the past to train, not a day went by when we didn't get thousands of messages here, asking when you were coming back. The people adore you. And that's why your wedding has to be a spectacle - - for them. They need to see you married in a grand ceremony that they'll remember and cherish for years after. It's important, to them. And, like it or not, it's one of the duties you have to the people of Japan as a member of the Royal Family."

Usa slumped back in her chair. "Noblesse Oblige, huh?"

"Was that dirty?" Serenity frowned. That elicited a snort of laughter from her daughter.

"OK, Mom, point taken," Usa exhaled. "But Helios and I will let you know WHEN we're ready to marry. Can I at least have THAT be my choice?"

"I guess," Serenity surrendered. "Boy, you sure know how to take the fun out of my life."

* * *

Jun entered the quarters she shared with her three adoptive sisters and headed for her desk. Her satchel of memory crystals was deposited on the desk more haphazardly than usual. She was tired - - mentally tired. Studying for exams all afternoon had fried her brain and all she wanted to do was have dinner, take a bath and curl up with a good mystery novel.

"Welcome back, Jun-Jun," exclaimed Palla-Palla. Palla-Palla was in her corner, concentrating, so she obviously had just returned from PKE class and was practicing what she had learned.

"Hey, Palla-Palla," Jun replied with flagging exuberance. "Just get back from PKE class?"

"Yes!" Palla-Palla nodded. "Sensei taught Palla-Palla how to hear thoughts from farther away. And he taught her how to block them out so they don't make Palla-Palla into a cuckoo bird." She paused. "What's a cuckoo bird?"

"Beats me. Look it up," Jun suggested. "Want to catch some dinner?"

"Yes! Can we have spaghetti?"

"OK with me," Jun sighed. "Cere still in the garden?"

Palla-Palla paused and concentrated. "No. Cere is talking with Miss Rei-Ma'am about growing flowers." She grinned devilishly. "And about her boyfriend."

"There's a shock," chuckled Jun. "Any idea where Ves is?"

Suddenly Palla-Palla grew very stiff and anxious. She cast her eyes to the floor.

"No," she squeaked. That set off warning bells in Jun's head.

"OK, what's she up to now?" Jun sighed.

"Palla-Palla isn't supposed to say!" wailed the girl. "Please don't ask her!"

Seeing how upset her sister was getting, Jun crossed over to the environmental control station by the door to the quarters.

"Computer, location of Ves," Jun asked.

"Ves is not in the palace," came the response. Jun's head lolled back against the wall. At that point, Cere entered.

"Is it OK if I skip dinner with you guys?" Cere asked. "I've got a hot dinner date with . . ." Cere noticed the mood of the room. "What's up?"

"Ves is nowhere in the palace," Jun informed her, "and Palla-Palla promised not to tell anyone where she went."

"Uh oh," Cere sighed. "I thought she was growing out of her 'rogue' phase."

"So what do we do?" Jun asked. "We can't trace her without Palla-Palla's help or the King's computer surveillance system. And I don't want to get her in trouble if she's doing something wrong."

"She's already in trouble just for being AWOL from the palace," Cere noted. "If we run her down now, maybe that's all she'll be in trouble for."

"Go to the King?" Jun asked.

"I don't know that we have a choice," Cere replied. She glanced at Palla-Palla. "Unless you want to save us the trip and tell us where she went."

"Palla-Palla can't do that!" Palla-Palla whined. "Ves-Ves told her to cover for her and Palla-Palla has to do it!"

"Palla-Palla," Jun began, kneeling down to her sister, "you know how Ves is. Sometimes she's her own worst enemy. Sometimes you have to protect her from herself, especially at times when she's thinking with her heart and goes off half-cocked. You can't always do something just because Ves tells you to. Sometimes you have to - - well, ignore what she tells you and do what's best for her. Understand?"

Palla-Palla looked down and to her sisters it looked like she was going to cry. Jun felt a momentary brush in her mind and wondered if Palla-Palla had scanned her thoughts to see if she was being sincere.

"She's flying to Sao Paulo," Palla-Palla admitted.

"SAO PAULO?" exclaimed Cere.

"Why?" Jun demanded.

"She got a message," Palla-Palla explained timidly. "One of her old friends is in trouble and needs Ves-Ves's help."

"And the King and Queen let her go alone?" Jun asked.

"She didn't tell the King and Queen," Palla-Palla said, twisting her fingers.

"Ves," sighed Jun.

"Well at least she had a good reason," Cere muttered.

"Yeah, but is it going to be good enough for the King and Queen, and the elders?" Jun asked rhetorically. "Maybe we better tell the Princess so she can run interference if necessary."

"How did she afford the fare to Brasilia?" Cere wondered. "I doubt Ves has two credits to her name. Or did she turn into an eagle and try to fly there?"

"Knowing her, she probably stowed away on an intercontinental rocket," Jun replied. She took a seat at her computer station and put in a call to Usa. When there was no answer, Jun took out her Senshi communicator and called the Princess.

"Yeah, is there trouble?" Usa asked when she appeared on the communicator screen.

"Nothing immediate," Jun told her. She took a moment to gather her courage. "Can we meet? It's kind of important."

"Sure!" Usa nodded. "I'll be right over."

Jun closed the channel and gave Cere a grave look. The look was returned by Cere.

"Are we not having dinner now?" Palla-Palla ventured. "Because Palla-Palla is hungry."

* * *

After their evening meal, Haruka helped Michiru clear the table and feed the dishes into the automated washer. Having eaten with Yutaka, Hotaru had retired to her room.

"How come Firefly isn't out with that boy?" Haruka asked. "Used to be those two were joined at the hip. The romance cooling or something?"

"I don't know," Michiru commented. "It's not something she seems to want to talk about." Michiru put the dish down and looked at Haruka. "I can make a few guesses. Yutaka's work load has increased since he started college level study. And Hotaru is just starting pre-med on top of her workload at the infirmary. Maybe they just don't have time anymore."

"Hmm, that's a rotten break," Haruka observed. "Still, it's worth it. 'Doctor Hotaru'; it has a real nice ring to it. Man, I'm so proud of her. She had so much trouble coping with the advances jumping ten centuries brings. But she worked hard at it and look at her now: Great grades and she's going to be a doctor."

"You're so cute when you're all 'proud papa'," smirked Michiru.

"Hey, she's done better than I ever did," Haruka responded. "And after all the things she's had to overcome." Haruka thought. "Maybe we could all go out tonight. Do something fun. Let her blow off a little steam."

"What did you have in mind?" Michiru asked.

"I don't know. Pick something you think she'd like. Or let her pick," Haruka suggested. She smiled to herself. "I don't much care. I just want to see her smile."

Galvanized by the idea, Haruka headed off to Hotaru's room. She signaled and Hotaru passed her through. But when she got in the room, Haruka immediately picked up on Hotaru's melancholy.

"Hey," Haruka began, sitting on the side of the bed Hotaru was draped across. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, don't mind me, Papa," Hotaru said glumly. "I'm just bummed because Yutaka can't go out tonight. He's busy." She frowned. "It seems one of us is always busy."

"Yeah, that can be no fun sometimes," Haruka sympathized. "I remember when I was racing. I had to leave Michiru for five or six months at a time. THAT was no fun." She brightened. "But sometimes that's the price you have to pay for the career you select. You're both going to be going into important careers. It's a sacrifice, but it's going to be worth it."

"Is it?" Hotaru ventured.

"What you mean?"

"Papa," Hotaru began, "maybe I shouldn't be a doctor. Maybe just being Yutaka's wife is enough."

There was a sudden silence. Hotaru peeked over at Haruka to see if she was mad.

"It's your life," Haruka replied neutrally. "That's a decision you'll have to make." She paused a beat. "I think it would be a waste."

"But I love Yutaka! I want to be with him!"

"I love Michiru. But I don't stay home and just be her mate. I work in the propulsion labs testing the new model air cars. I like doing that. It's important to me. Now if I had to choose between Michiru and you, and what I do outside the home, I'd choose you two every time. But nobody's making me choose. Nobody's making you choose, are they?"

"But what if one day I'm a doctor and Yutaka's an engineer," and Hotaru swallowed, "and we don't love each other anymore?"

"OK, what if you give up your ambitions and become Yutaka's wife," Haruka proposed, "and four years from now you don't love each other anymore? It happens."

"Not to us," Hotaru protested.

"So your love can't die of incompatibility, but it can die of neglect?" Haruka asked. Hotaru didn't answer. "At least this way, you'll have being a doctor to fall back on. The other way, you won't have anything. Not that I'm saying you're going to eventually break up. But like I said, it happens."

"I just . . ." Hotaru began, but couldn't finish.

"Being separated from Michiru or you is my least favorite thing in the world," Haruka said, "so I know where you're coming from. But being at that control panel does a lot of good for me and a lot of good for the world. You being a doctor will do a lot of good for the world, too, and for you. It might reward you in ways Yutaka never will. So don't throw it away if you don't have to."

Hotaru sighed. It was a sign she was giving in to the argument.

"So, you want to go somewhere tonight?" Haruka asked. "You, me and Michiru - - anyplace you want. It's got to be better than just laying in the dark yearning for that boy." Haruka smirked. "Unless you're doing more than just yearning."

"Papa!" huffed Hotaru, her cheeks coloring.

"Come on. Anywhere you want," Haruka urged. "How about that ice cream place you're always talking about?"

"Ice cream," Hotaru whispered. Haruka could tell she was weakening. "OK."

"That's my girl," Haruka smiled.

* * *

"Sao Paulo?" goggled Usa.

"Well, it is Ves we're talking about," Cere replied.

"If only we could get a look at the message," Jun grumbled. "But none of us know Ves's computer access code."

"Futbol26," Palla-Palla said.

"She told you?" Cere asked.

"Told me what?" Palla-Palla asked innocently. Cere rolled her eyes.

Usa plopped into the chair at Ves's computer station and logged in. The message was still up. The Princess hit playback and everyone listened to the message again.

"Well, our first course of action is to head over to Sao Paulo and track down this Sancha," concluded Usa. "That's obviously where Ves will head." She got up and headed for the door. "You three get ready to teleport. I'll clear it with Mom and Pop."

"Um, isn't that going to get Ves in trouble?" Jun wondered. "For leaving the country without permission?"

Usa turned to Jun and smirked conspiratorially. "They don't have to know THAT part."

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. The Search

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 3: "The Search"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

The door to Endymion's computer room opened and his daughter swept in. The only people who had direct access to his computer room besides himself was his wife, his daughter, the elder senshi and, of course, Luna and the cats. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise to see Usa there.

It was a curiosity. Usa rarely ventured into the room and usually it was because she wanted something, either from the computer or from him. He wanted to ask her, but knowing his daughter liked to reveal things on her own terms, he kept quiet.

"Hi, Pop," she chirped. "I just wanted to let you know that Ves has to travel to Sao Paulo for a while. One of her old friends is in trouble and she wants to help."

"I see," nodded the King. "Hopefully it won't take too long to resolve. Thank you for telling me. Does she need any help?"

"That's the other thing I wanted to tell you," Usa said and Endymion could tell she was mentally editing. "The Asteroids and I wanted to tag along in case Ves needs us. We don't know how involved this situation is, so we'd like to be there in case Ves needs back up."

"Very judicious," Endymion nodded. "Will you be going as Sailor Senshi or as the Princess and her entourage?"

"Does it matter?" Usa asked, confused.

"If you're going as Sailor Senshi," Endymion explained, "I'll need to inform the Brasilian government that agents of the Japanese government will be executing a mission on their soil, as a matter of courtesy and to head off any possible jurisdictional trouble. If you're going as the Princess, I'll need to e-mail your passport and visitation papers so you'll be permitted in the country. And so our embassy there knows you're in the country and can take any necessary steps to aid you."

"Oh. Princess, I guess. I don't want to go busting in as senshi until we know if senshi are needed," Usa concluded. "Will that take long?"

Endymion pressed a crystal stud on his computer.

"Done," he smiled.

"You're good, Pop," grinned Usa.

"Well, it's nice to know I'm good at something besides money and hugs," Endymion retorted. Usa turned to leave, but Endymion reached out and grasped her hand. She looked back curiously. "Be safe. Go into this with your eyes open. Be ready to use all of your training and all of your intellect. Hopefully you won't need them, but it's better to be prepared." He sighed. "Especially if Ves is involved."

"Right, Pop," Usa nodded warmly.

"I'll tell your mother where you're going."

"Do me a favor, Pop?" Usa asked. "Give us a fifteen minute head start. I want to be out of the country when she finds out."

* * *

Hotaru lay across her bed trying to read the words from the bio-chemistry text on the screen of her pad. The trip to the ice cream shop had been nice; however, she needed to get some studying in. But her thoughts kept wandering to her dilemma. The advice of her guardian had only confused her more. What should she do? She did want to be a doctor. It had been an ambition ever since she was ten and the kindly doctor her real father had consulted had given her supplements to improve her sickly constitution. They had done her a world of good and Hotaru wanted to have the chance to do that for some other infirm person.

But she also really wanted to be with Yutaka. She wanted to spend her life with Yutaka, to help him with his studies, to be his companion, to lean on him when she felt weak and hold him up when he did, to share his life, his triumphs and his adversities. Was there a way she could do both?

The communications link on her computer signaled an incoming call. When she saw it was Usa, Hotaru pulled herself up to a sitting position and answered it.

"You up for a trip?" Usa asked.

"Where?" Hotaru inquired.

"Sao Paulo."

"Wh-Why there?"

"Ves made an unauthorized trip there because one of her old friends may be in trouble. The Amazons and I are going in case Ves gets in over her head. You want to come?"

"You cleared this with the King?" Hotaru asked.

"Yes, worry wart," sighed Usa. "If this is a bad time, you can stay behind. I know you've been trying to carve out some time for you and Yutaka."

"No worries there," Hotaru frowned.

"Sorry."

"I'm not getting much work done on this bio-chemistry chapter anyway," Hotaru concluded. "And I'd like to see Sao Paulo again. And you might need me."

"Great! Aero-Pad in fifteen minutes." And Usa disconnected. Hotaru took a moment to allow her senses to stop spinning. Then she got up and headed out of her room.

"Mama! Papa!" she called. "I just talked to Usa. I've got a senshi mission to Sao Paulo!"

* * *

"Enter, Maiden," Helios said to the door of his quarters. Usa passed through the open door.

"Computer tell you it was me?" she asked.

"I do not need to be told when you are near," he replied from his lotus position on his bed. "I feel the warmth of your dream light."

"Aww," she grinned. "Just wanted to tell you the senshi and I will be gone for a while. We'll be in Sao Paulo maybe giving Ves a hand."

"Do you wish me to come along?" Helios asked, unfolding and rising from the bed.

"I'd love to have you along," the Princess replied lustily, snaking her arms around his torso. "But you're a mighty big distraction and Pop warned me to keep my head. Besides, this is my first mission as Eternal Sailor Moon and I want to try it without a safety net."

"As you wish, Maiden," Helios acquiesced. His hand tenderly stroked her face. "I shall miss you while you are gone, visit you nightly in your dreams, and eagerly await the tales of your triumph when you return."

"Gods, I get all goose-pimply when you talk like that," Usa sighed. The pair bent in and kissed.

Reluctantly she pulled away and headed for the door. With a last, fond look at her intended, Usa turned and exited. Out in the corridor, the teen licked her lips, the feel of Helios fresh in her mind. Then with a burst of energy, she sprinted down the corridor, the aero-pad atop the palace her destination.

* * *

From the main intercontinental shuttle port in Buenos Aires, Ves stowed away on a short shuttle flight to Sao Paulo. By the time the shuttle landed at Sao Paulo airport, Vesta was more than ready to finish the trip under her own power. For some reason, her animal forms didn't travel well on sub-sonic flights.

Approaching the city limits as an Andean condor, Vesta headed for what she knew as "the old neighborhood". It was one of the poorer sections of Sao Paulo, south of the government and entertainment districts and adjacent to the old manufacturing district. Dilapidated, over-crowded and riddled with crime and deprivation, the district was one of the things the local Sao Paulo government and the central government of Brasilia didn't talk about unless cornered.

Something suddenly caught her keen eye. It was a gang fight in one of the old manufacturing plant receiving and shipping lots. The building itself looked abandoned for years; no doubt the factions were fighting over a dispute rather than this territory. Three youths probably younger than she was pursued another, slightly older male. Vesta would have dismissed it had it not been for the male being pursued. He suddenly turned on his opponents and pointed at them. Remarkable enough behavior, but the gesture stopped his pursuers dead in their tracks.

Quickly Vesta found out why. The extended arm of the lone combatant opened, revealing a gleaming barrel where bones should be. The barrel erupted in a short burst of automatic weapon fire, spraying bullets into the rapidly retreating rival gang. Two of the youths were cut down. The third escaped, with the cybernetically augmented male in pursuit of him now.

As bad as it was, the old neighborhood was never like this.

Spotting Sancha's apartment, nestled above a convenience store, Vesta swooped in near the roof. Transforming in midair to a squirrel, the gray rodent landed acrobatically and scrambled down the side of the building to the window of Sancha's place. The apartment seemed empty. Had the people who abducted Sancha's son returned for her, or was she out looking for him rather than wait for Vesta's arrival? After a moment's indecision, Vesta decided to investigate the apartment. Seeing no way in, Vesta clawed at the mesh screen over the window until she tore a hole about two inches wide, then slithered in.

Rather than call out, Vesta sniffed the air first. There were scents still there, of Sancha and several other people. But there were too many to be just her husband and son, and all of the scents were days old. No one had been here since before Vesta received the video mail message. That in itself was suspicious. Vesta's survival instincts started throwing out warnings.

Staying in squirrel form, the senshi hugged the baseboard of the apartment, cautiously looking over every inch of it. Something wasn't right about this, but she couldn't figure out what. Where was Sancha? Was the whole message a lure to get her here? If so, why? Vesta was about to investigate the kitchen when she suddenly heard a voice.

"Ves?"

Vesta whirled and saw Sancha standing in the center of the room. She was looking at the door, her face oozing desperation and dread. Vesta was about to transform, but stopped. She hadn't been there a second ago.

"Thank God you're here, Ves!" Sancha exclaimed. She was older than Vesta remembered, but still a cocoa brown with thick brownish-black hair, still thin as a rail and still possessing eyes that were too big for her face. "Ves, they've got him! Please help me find him!"

Confusion set in. Who was Sancha talking to? Nobody was at the door. Where had she come from? Nobody had been there a moment ago. Vesta sniffed the air. There was no scent. Then what was this? Clearly she wasn't Sancha.

Then Vesta recalled all of the times she'd seen something she'd thought was real, only to have Pallas tell her it was "just a picture in her head". Was that what this was? That meant it was a trap - - a trap for her.

Every nerve was on end as Vesta raced for the window. Wriggling out of the hole in the screen, Vesta was just about clear when the window and the apartment behind it exploded.

* * *

"Yes, Princess Usagi, your visa was pre-approved," the customs agent said at the gate to Sao Paulo air terminal. "Please hold still one moment for the retinal scan to confirm your identity."

Usa waited patiently as the retinal scanner did its job. A green light blinked on and the customs agent smile.

"You may now enter the country, Princess," he smiled. He was a dark mixture of Spanish and Incan ancestry and someone as beautiful as Princess Usagi had definitely livened his day. "Anything to declare?"

"We're traveling light," Usa said, then quipped, "I may have more when I leave."

"Very well. Enjoy your stay in Brasilia," the agent said and passed her through.

Once everybody was through, they all gathered at the gate. Everyone looked expectantly to Usa.

"So, anybody know where this friend of Ves's lives?" Usa asked. Everyone shook their heads. "Guess I'll have to do some digging." She produced her palm-sized computer pad and began working.

Just then, a man approached. He was in his fifties and was native to Brasilia. Dressed in business formal, he came right up to the party. Hotaru eyed him warily, prepared to transform at any moment. Palla-Palla, on the other hand, beamed a smile at him in her typical trusting manner.

"Princess Usagi?" the man asked. When he had Usa's attention, he bowed to her. "I am Garcia from the Crystal Tokyo consulate. I was informed by King Endymion of your arrival and instructed to give you any assistance I can."

"Pop thinks of everything, doesn't he?" Usa grinned. "I don't mean to be a bother, but you know the city better than I do. Could you arrange some hotel accommodations for us? This trip was kind of last minute and I sort of neglected to set us up in advance."

"I would be happy to do so," Garcia replied. "I'll get you all rooms at the hotel where our visiting officials always stay. It's centrally located, close to the consulate and from what I hear very nice."

"And an air car!" Jun chimed in. Usa looked at her quizzically. "Just in case we need to get around."

"Yeah, we don't have wings anymore," Usa mumbled. Garcia gave her a strange look. Usa's eyes grew big. "Uh, Ha Ha Ha. Lame joke, huh?"

"I'll attend to that as well," Garcia replied. "It will be waiting for you at the hotel. Shall I escort you to the hotel?"

"Um, we need to find out something first," Usa alibied. "I'll contact you if I need anything else."

"Very good, Princess. My card," he said, touching his computer pad to hers to download his information. With that, he bowed, turned and walked off.

"Nice recovery," needled Hotaru. "One worthy of Queen Serenity herself."

"Oh shut up," muttered Usa.

"Our own concierge?" Cere marveled. "Boy, position does have its privilege."

"It does. I feel guilty about it," Usa said, then smirked, "sometimes."

"Any luck on Ves's friend?" Hotaru inquired.

"Sorry, got distracted. What was her name?"

"Sancha, wasn't it?" Jun replied, then looked to her sisters for confirmation. Both girls just shrugged.

Usa put in the name. After a few seconds, she received an answer.

"I've combed through the telecom records and got two hundred and forty hits," Usa announced.

"Let me see," Jun requested. She scrolled through the listings. "This one. The address is in Ves's old neighborhood." Cere peeked over her shoulder.

"Ooooh, the bottoms," she scowled. "Figures."

"The Bottoms?" Hotaru asked.

"Dirty, run down and infested with poor people and criminals," Cere answered. "Not exactly your showcase neighborhood. But it would be the most likely spot for one of Ves's friends."

Palla-Palla looked at the list, then pointed to the same address and nodded.

"That one," she said with eerie certainty.

"You knew her address all along?" demanded Cere indignantly.

"No. Palla-Palla only knew it a second ago. But she had a vision of the lady playing with her little baby and it was there," Palla-Palla replied.

"OK, we know where to go," Usa announced. "Hopefully we'll get there in time to catch up with Ves. If she had to fly to Rio and catch a shuttle here, that'll eat into most of her lead. Let's get to our hotel and collect that air car. Good call on that, Jun."

As the five girls headed for the port's taxi transport stand, Cere leaned in to Jun.

"I don't suppose we could just call her on our communicators?" Cere asked.

"You actually think Ves would pick up?" Jun retorted.

"No," sighed Cere. "That would be too easy. Usa, when we get to the hotel, give me a moment to have all of my valuables locked in the hotel safe. Bad enough we've got to go into The Bottoms. I'm not taking anything that could possibly be stolen."

After checking in at the hotel, the five senshi in hiding boarded their complimentary air car. After a short dispute between Usa and the others, Jun was designated the pilot. She lifted off from the hotel's air car hangar while Usa momentarily pouted in the back. In minutes they were over the old manufacturing district. The slum known as "The Bottoms" was up ahead.

"I've got the navigation computer triangulated onto Sancha's place," Usa said, her fingers gliding over the computer's control panel.

"Got it, Princess," Jun nodded. "We're on course. Approach in ninety seconds."

With that, the air was rocked by the shockwave from an explosion. Jun and Cere peered out of the forward portal and saw a fireball rise up from the residential slum they were headed for.

"What was that?" gasped Cere.

"Something blew up," Palla-Palla told her.

"Going into evasive action," Jun reported. "I'll try to navigate around that fireball and the responding fire-bots. Wonder how close it was to Sancha's place."

"Jun," Usa said gravely, "that WAS Sancha's place."

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. Longstanding Debt

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 4: "Longstanding Debt"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Above her, fire control drones moved in to get the blaze under control. There was a ringing in her ears that was dying away, thankfully, and her brain felt like it was packed in cotton. At first her body didn't want to move, but Vesta kept at it and eventually muscles engaged. Looking around, Vesta found that she was on a roof. Looking down, she found that she was still in squirrel form. It's probably what helped her survive the explosion. Her smaller body had less mass, so there was less mass to impact when the force of the explosion pitched her across the street and she landed.

The explosion; spurring herself to the edge of the roof, Vesta looked across the street at the building that had once housed her old friend Sancha and her family. The apartment and the store it was over were completely engulfed. The fire control drones were keeping the blaze contained, but nobody could have lived through that. If Sancha had been in there, she was beyond help now.

But she wasn't. Vesta was certain of that. It had been a trap for her, with Sancha as the bait, and her unknown enemy had rigged things so that the bait didn't even have to be there. The Sancha she'd seen had been - - what were those three-dimensional pictures called, holograms? But somebody had to be around to watch and see if the trap had been sprung. Quickly Vesta searched the area and just as quickly her eyes locked on to a man getting into a hovercar. With her experience, she knew he was hired muscle for some local hood as surely as if the man had it tattooed on his forehead. He was who she needed to talk to if she wanted answers.

Pushing her body to full speed, Vesta raced along the edge of the roof with all the natural acrobatics inherent in a squirrel. When she came to the edge of the roof, Vesta leaped into space, her dive calculated to place her on the front hood of the hovercar. A squirrel, of course, would hardly make an impact on the hood. But she didn't have to remain a squirrel.

The two small time criminals sped off to report what they had seen to their employer. Then from out of nowhere, a full-grown Tyrannosaur dropped onto the front hood of their hovercar. The front end was shoved into the pavement, crumpling the grille as the weight of the dinosaur drove the hood into the turbine engine, crushing it, and the engine in turn into the floor panel. After taking a few moments to collect their wits, the pair looked out the front view panel, mostly to confirm what they had seen. But the dinosaur was gone.

A hand in a white glove with ringed crimson trim reached into the passenger window and under the jacket of the driver, grasping his laser pistol. In an instant, Sailor Vesta leveled the weapon at the passenger and fired, hitting the man in the upper chest. He grabbed his chest and slumped over, shot in the lung. Vesta tried to point the weapon at the driver, but he grabbed for it. The pistol tumbled over the seat and behind them into the back passenger compartment.

"Fauna Assimilation, Burmese Python!" his assailant shouted.

Instantly, the driver found himself in the coils of a twenty foot Burmese Python. The giant snake squeezed and suddenly there was no room for him to expand his chest and inhale. His temples throbbed as his blood pressure spiked from the constriction being applied. A groan of pain escaped his mouth, using the last of his wind. Black spots formed in front of his eyes. He began to fear that his time on Earth was coming to a close.

And the pressure eased.

"OK, who set this up!" the snake demanded, impossibly. It's cold reptilian eyes stared directly into his. "Who are you working for?"

"H-How . . .?" the hood gasped incredulously. The snake responded by constricting again. After a few moments of agony that seemed like an eternity, the pressure eased.

"TALK!" the snake roared. "Who do you work for?"

"M-Marcelino Acosta!" her captive exclaimed.

The name stunned her.

"What are you?" the captive cried.

"Does Acosta have Sancha Bravo?" Vesta asked. The hood just gave her a blank look. "The woman who lived in the apartment you blew up!"

"Y-Yeah! He was using her to lure someone here! To settle an old score!"

"Damn it!" swore the snake. She turned to her captive again. "Where is she?"

"I don't know!"

The coils grew tighter.

"WHERE?"

"Ahhh!" her captive groaned. Vesta eased the pressure. "I don't know! Acosta just told us to watch the apartment, see who went in and report back when it blew! I don't know where she is!"

"OK, where do I find Acosta?"

The answer was immediate and Vesta knew exactly where the building was. Acosta had moved up in the world. Not needing her captive any longer, Vesta uncoiled and slithered into a nearby alley.

Once under cover of buildings and shadows, Vesta reverted to human form. She sat on the pavement and leaned back against a wall. Between the explosion and the multiple transformations, Vesta felt just a little dizzy. Her breath coming out in shudders, the senshi closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to regain her senses.

Marcelino Acosta - - there was a name she hadn't heard for six years. So little Marcelino Acosta was a local crime lord now. It was mildly surprising to Vesta. She never though he had it in him. She wondered how big an organization he had - - whether he was just a gang leader or actually had a professional organization. One thing that didn't surprise her was that Acosta was carrying a vendetta for her. Not after what happened between them the last time they'd met. And now he'd dragged Sancha and her family into it, along with whoever might have been in the store. He knew she was in Japan now. He might even know she was Sailor Vesta. Vesta had never tried to hide her identity. But he didn't know she had escaped his trap. And she could use that. It was an advantage and Vesta intended to use it to the fullest.

Vesta put her hand to her head, shielding her eyes. If only things would stop spinning.

* * *

"Get as close as you can!" Usa shouted. The others were crowding around the forward view port to get a look at the explosion and fireball.

"Trying!" Jun barked. "The turbulence from the explosion is more than the stabilizers can compensate for!"

"Close as you can without crashing us!" Usa replied, her fingers dancing over the on-board computer panel.

As the air car maneuvered in, avoiding both displaced air, waves of heat affecting flight patterns, and fire control drones responding to the emergency, everybody marveled at the scene.

"Look down there in the street!" Cere exclaimed, pointing to a hovercar. "The whole front end is caved in! Part of the building must have fallen on it!"

"Then where is the debris?" Hotaru observed. Suddenly Palla-Palla sat bolt upright in her seat.

"Vesta!" she cried. "Palla-Palla heard Vesta! She's down there!"

"In that fire!" Cere gasped.

Taking one hand off of the controls, Jun extended it in the air and summoned her henshin stick.

"Juno Crystal Power Make Up!" she shouted. The air car shimmied slightly as she transformed. "Aqua Initiation!"

Inside the building, all of the plumbing burst, showering water over everything. Between that and the fire-retardant foam sprayed by the fire control drones, the fire was out in moments. By that time everyone in the air car had transformed into their senshi identities. Landing in a spot down the street from the burned storefront, the senshi piled out of the air car, drawing stunned looks from the people already gathered to watch the fire. Sailor Moon stopped, though, and turned back to Sailor Ceres.

"Ceres, maybe you better stay with the air car," Sailor Moon suggested. "If this is as bad a neighborhood as you say, someone should be here to keep the vehicle from being stolen."

Ceres thought a moment about protesting, then nodded. "OK," she replied. "Hey, Vesta probably wasn't even in there, you know?"

"Yeah. She's," Sailor Moon answered, "always been pretty good at survival."

Using the telekinetic ability of Sailor Pallas, the senshi levitated up into the ruins of the second floor apartment. Staying near the walls to avoid potentially buckling floors, the five senshi looked around. There was charred furnishings, water and foam pooled everywhere and the scent of burned wood and plastic mixed in with chemicals thick in the air.

But thankfully there were no bodies.

"She's not here," Juno whispered in relief. Pallas clamped on to her arm and hugged it.

"Wonder what caused this explosion?" Sailor Moon wondered out loud. "Was it an accident or was it intended for Vesta's friend?"

"Or Vesta," Sailor Saturn added.

"This would be a good time to have Aunt Ami's visor," Sailor Moon frowned. "I can't see anything here except burned stuff. How about you, Saturn?"

"I wouldn't even know what to look for," Saturn replied.

"Pallas? Can you get any impressions from this place?"

Sailor Pallas closed her eyes and concentrated. After a short time, she opened them and shook her head.

"How about Vesta?" Juno asked. "You caught a thought from her before. Can you home in on her again?"

Pallas stared off into space. Her eyes glazed over. Her lips parted slightly.

"Vesta was here," Pallas informed them. "She was small and fuzzy, like a squirley-squirley. Her friend talked to her," and Pallas frowned, "only it wasn't really her friend. It was a picture."

"A talking picture?" Juno asked.

"A hologram," Sailor Moon replied and immediately began surveying the room.

"Vesta got scared all of a sudden," Pallas continued. "She turned and ran and jumped out of the window just when the room went boom."

"Can you see where she is now?" Juno prodded. Pallas began to tear up.

"No," she whimpered. Juno patted her on the shoulder.

"Up there in the corner of the room," Sailor Moon said, pointing to the far corner of the ceiling. "It's pretty burned, but it looks like a Fushenko Miniature Holographic Projector with motion sensor."

Saturn gaped incredulously at her friend. Sailor Moon noticed the reaction.

"Hey, you should see the catalog crystals I have in my room," Sailor Moon chuckled. "It's fascinating what these things can do."

"Then it was a trap for Vesta," Saturn concluded.

"We have to find her," Juno stated urgently. "She could be hurt."

"Yeah," nodded Sailor Moon, giving the room a last look. "I don't think we can learn anything more here. Let's get back to the air car."

But when they approached the air car, the senshi found two local men wrapped up in two of Ceres' vine plants, struggling with futility to escape. The police had already converged on the scene and one of the officers was talking to Ceres.

"Ceres, what happened?" Pallas asked, running up.

"These two lowlifes tried to 'jack the air car!" Ceres fumed.

Immediately Pallas ran up to them and shook her finger at them. "Bad men! You should be punished!" she spat.

"Looks like you handled it," Juno nodded.

"I'm just sorry my poor plants had to touch them!" groused Ceres. "Anything on Vesta?"

"She wasn't in the explosion, but she might be hurt," answered Juno. "We've got to get going and find her."

"And what exactly are you five?" the officer asked, looking the five senshi up and down quizzically.

"Um, I can come down to your station and explain later," Sailor Moon began, "but it's very important that we get back in the air."

"You're going to have to fill out an incident report," the officer maintained.

"Can't you just hold them and we'll stream a report to you?" Sailor Moon asked. "We have to look for a friend of ours! She could be in danger!"

"What kind of danger?" the officer asked, alert now.

"Can't we just go?" Sailor Moon asked urgently. "Please?"

And Saturn noticed the subtle flow of pink energy, almost imperceptible to most people, from Sailor Moon to the officer. His expression began to shift from business-like to sympathetic. Finally his shoulders sagged.

"All right," he nodded.

"Thank you!" Sailor Moon squealed. The senshi piled into the air car, not noticing the grateful smile on the officer's face. Once they were in the air, Saturn turned to Sailor Moon.

"Did you have to do that?" she asked.

"Do what?" Sailor Moon questioned blankly.

Saturn grinned. "Just like your Mom."

"So how are we going to find Vesta?" Juno asked, operating the air car's controls.

"Search the area," Sailor Moon replied. "She's pretty hard to miss with that hair style and if she is hurt, she probably didn't get too far."

"That could take a while," Juno warned. "And that's assuming she's not still in an animal form."

Sailor Moon fell silent. Juno had a point.

* * *

Sancha Bravo sat in the chair cradling her son Jaime to her breast. The child was only six months old and didn't understand what was going on. But he understood his mother's anxiety and squirmed restlessly against her. She had only recently gotten him quieted. Her brown eyes sought out her husband, Martin. The youth, barely eighteen, returned her gaze with one of helpless impotence and frustration. She knew Martin and she knew this situation ate at him. But their captors were armed and he wasn't. There was nothing he could do and they both knew it.

It had been like this for days: fitful sleep, bare necessities for food and hygiene, and sitting and waiting the rest of the time. All under the watchful eye of Marcelino Acosta's hired muscle. She glanced over at their guards. One watched the vid-streams. Another sat behind dark glasses and watched them.

The third was cleaning the projectile gun that replaced his left arm. The sight of it alone was intimidating to Sancha. She'd never seen one in actual use, but she'd heard the stories. Her glance returned to the one with the dark glasses. Perhaps they made eye contact, because the man leaned forward in his chair.

Sancha averted her gaze. No need to challenge them. Pride could get them all killed.

Sancha thought. Ves would have challenged them. Ves would have waded right into the three of them. Maybe she would have won. Maybe she would have been killed. But that was Ves. Few things intimidated her and fewer things still could get her to back down from a challenge. She might pay in blood, but she would stand her ground. And she would never forsake a friend.

And Acosta knew that. That's why they were here now. All because of one time when Ves wouldn't back down.

"Hey, look at this," the muscle watching the vid-stream said. He pointed to video of a building engulfed in fire. "You suppose it's the one?"

Sancha looked at the video. She recognized the building as the one that housed her apartment. A sinking feeling came over her. Her life was in that building. Everything she'd managed to scrounge and save over eighteen hard years of life was in that building, burning to cinders.

And what if Ves was in that building?

"I don't know," grunted the man with the prosthetic weapon on his arm. "But a bomb would make a building burn like that." He glanced over at their three hostages. "Suppose we don't need these three anymore?"

"Hope not," replied the man watching the vid-stream. "I'm damn sick and tired of babysitting them."

"We wait for word from Mr. Acosta," the man in the dark glasses said flatly. It was not a suggestion.

"I'm just saying," the man watching the vid-stream protested.

"You actually think this chick got out of that alive?" the man with the prosthetic asked.

"Could have been anything set that off," the man in the dark glasses replied. "Could have been some other friend of theirs. Could have been a cockroach. Could have been a malfunction in the detonator." He scowled. "I told Mr. Acosta he should have let me handle it. I know what I'm killing and they stay dead." There was an icy ruthlessness to him. "Until there's confirmation, we sit tight."

"Then turn that stream to something else," growled the man with the prosthetic. "Isn't there a futbol match on?"

As the two thugs surfed the stream frequencies, searching for more interesting feeds, Sancha sat and cradled her son and worried whether she and her family and her old friend were going to be able to escape this web of death.

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. The Searchers

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 5: "The Searchers"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

She thought she had only closed her eyes for a second. However, the way her head hurt made her question that. Sailor Vesta tried to pry her eyes open. It was difficult. They didn't want to open. The light hurt. But she had to get going. She had to get Sancha and her family away from Marcelino Acosta.

And then Vesta's fog cleared from a sudden rush of adrenalin. Something was tugging at her hair.

Her eyes flew open, startling the ten year old girl standing over her. The girl was scraggly and malnourished, like a hundred other urchins this city seemed to breed. It was almost like looking into the past, into her own life. Seven years ago, Vesta was this girl.

The child started to bolt, but Vesta's hand shot out and seized her by the belt of her synthetic jeans. The child fought like a caged animal to get loose while Vesta calmly inspected herself to see if anything was missing.

["LET ME GO!"] the child screamed in Portuguese. ["I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! LET ME GO! I SWEAR TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"]

["Yeah, yeah,"] Vesta returned. She felt along her mountain of crimson hair and discovered one of the decorative gold rings was gone.

With a jerk, Vesta pulled the girl to her and spun her around. The gold ring was concealed against her body with her left hand. With ease, Vesta pulled the ring out of the girl's hand. For her part, the girl cringed, fearing in equal parts being turned over to the juvenile authorities and getting beaten by Vesta out of revenge. It was a look of animal fear that Vesta was all too familiar with as well.

["You have to strike quick, like a python,"] Vesta advised her. ["Otherwise they feel you doing it. And it helps if they're distracted."] She released the girl's pants. ["Scram."]

The girl bolted for the mouth of the alley and freedom. But at the mouth, she stopped and turned around, looking back at Vesta in confusion.

["Why do you wear that costume?"] she asked. ["Are you with the circus?"]

Vesta grinned. ["Not anymore."]

An emergency siren split the air. The girl bolted again and was gone. Vesta pushed to her feet, then paused while the world spun. At first she'd thought she'd just over-exerted herself with her multiple transformations in too short a time. Now Vesta wondered if she might have a concussion from the explosion.

Didn't matter, though. Sancha and her family needed her help. When her dizziness subsided, she headed off for Marcelino Acosta's place of "business".

* * *

Saturn and the Asteroid Senshi sat in the air car as it leisurely cruised over the city. They were basically in a holding pattern until Sailor Moon was done on her PDA.

"Sorry this is taking so long," Sailor Moon said as she continued to type. "It's just that Pop's encryptions are really hard to beat."

"I thought King Endymion gave you access to his computer system," Saturn asked.

"Some of the stuff has security encryption," Sailor Moon explained. "Like all of the senshi files. He doesn't want somebody hacking into the senshi communications system."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Ceres commented ironically.

"Somebody like Viluy," Sailor Moon scowled.

"You know," Saturn suggested, "you could always just ask him for access."

"Yeah, and he could say 'no', too," Sailor Moon shot back.

"Why would he say 'no'?" Saturn asked incredulously.

"Got it!" Sailor Moon said triumphantly. Saturn and Ceres passed a look between them, silently wondering how much of this involved her personally triumphing over her father's security system. Sailor Moon typed a command in and was rewarded by a flashing light on the PDA screen. "Alter your heading two degrees west, Juno. Two hundred seventy-five meters ahead on that course."

"Boy, were we off!" Juno remarked as she altered course.

"So what did you do?" Ceres asked.

"Once I got into Pop's computer, I accessed the senshi communicator network and put a trace on Vesta's communicator. We can use it as a homing beacon," Sailor Moon explained.

"ETA is twenty-three seconds," Juno announced.

"It's gone!" Sailor Moon gasped suddenly.

"The signal?" Saturn asked. Pallas was visibly upset.

"Yeah, it just," Sailor Moon mumbled in shock, "stopped transmitting."

"Did something happen to her?" Ceres asked with concern.

The air car set down in an alley near where the bomb went off. Everyone but Juno piled out of the craft and looked around. There was no sign of Vesta.

"These are her last coordinates," declared Sailor Moon. "But there's no sign of a struggle, no radiation, no energy residue - - nothing."

"Ceres," Saturn began thoughtfully, "her communicator disappears when she transforms into an animal form, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Ceres nodded. "You suppose that's why her signal disappeared?"

"Let's hope so," Sailor Moon replied. "Although that doesn't help us track her now."

Noticing Sailor Pallas staring vacantly down the alley, Ceres moved over and knelt beside the senshi.

"Do you see something, Pallas?" Ceres asked hopefully.

Pallas just stared.

"Do you see Vesta?" Ceres asked. Pallas shook her head. "Who do you see?"

"A man," Pallas said distantly. "He's not very tall. He's short like Pallas and Juno. His name is," and she paused for a moment. "Marcelino Acosta."

"Is Vesta with him?" Ceres prodded.

"Pallas hopes not," Pallas replied, coming out of her trance. "Mister Acosta-Sir doesn't like Vesta. Not one bit."

* * *

Marcelino Acosta sat at an expensive cherry wood desk, watching the vid-stream of a blazing building in the Sao Paulo slums. He knew the building. It had once been the apartment for Sancha and Martin Bravo. After forcing Sancha Bravo to make a terrified plea for help to her old friend Vanessa, Acosta had hired a professional explosives expert to lay a trap. He knew Vanessa, who now ran around Japan with several other costumed warriors as Sailor Vesta, would come charging in. He knew Vanessa and he knew how much she valued loyalty to friends. From the vid-stream, he knew the trap had been sprung. Now all he needed was confirmation that she was dead.

He caressed the gold ring on his finger. Marcelino Acosta was only four foot eleven inches tall and slight of build. He wasn't much to look at. And a metallic visor bisected his face, covering his useless eyes. The visor gleamed of chrome except for the center slot where the sensor array was. That was smoke brown. The visor ended at his temples just above his ears, where the input plugs went into his brain.

But for all of his physical shortcomings, Marcelino Acosta was a powerful and wealthy man. His office was apportioned to remind everyone of his wealth and power. The latest electronics filled his desk. Prestigious antiques sat on shelves. A lovely woman, local from the look of her, acted as his personal assistant, her jet black hair cascading down her back and her curves barely contained by her dress. There were more competent assistants, but she did the job and it impressed others and pleased him that a beautiful woman was subservient to him. And she had other talents. Three burly toughs, each illegally augmented with prosthetic limbs that doubled as weapons and eyes that doubled as sensor arrays, stood in the room and waited for orders. It pleased him that they were subservient to him, too. Marcelino Acosta had come a long way from scrounging the streets of Sao Paulo for his next day's existence.

"Mendez on channel one, Mr. Acosta," his assistant announced with a throaty, smoky voice after consulting her handheld computer pad. Acosta reached over and pressed a crystal on his monitor. His man, Mendez, came on. From the look of the man's expression, Acosta determined he wasn't going to like the news Mendez had.

"Talk to me," Acosta said.

"I," the man gasped, then searched for words. "We were attacked! It was - - I don't know what she was! She shot Hernandez! He's in the hospital now! Then she," and his mouth quivered, but no sound came out.

"Get a grip," Acosta told him. "Describe her."

"She, um," Mendez replied. "She was dressed up like some sailor or something. And then she turned into a-a snake! She was going to crush me! How the Hell does someone turn into a python?"

"Did you tell her where I am?" Acosta asked.

"N-No, no, Boss! I wouldn't rat you out! I sent her to the warehouse!"

Acosta remained silent. Mendez shivered. He was nervous about the strange woman in the sailor suit coming back, turning into a python again and squeezing the life from him. But he was just as worried about what Acosta might do.

"OK, come back," Acosta told him. "I'll alert the warehouse."

"Right, Boss!" Mendez nodded and severed the link. Acosta turned to one of his men.

"When Mendez gets back," Acosta told him, "kill him."

"You think he ratted you out?" one of the thugs asked.

"Either he did," Acosta reasoned, his visor catching the light and reflecting it, "or he's lost his nerve and he's now a liability. Either way, he's no longer any use to me."

"What do you suppose he was talking about?" his assistant asked. "A woman who turned into a python?"

"It means the bomb missed," Acosta told her. "Pena, call the warehouse. Tell them to expect trouble. And tell them what kind of trouble. Rondon, you put the office on security alert. Tell them what to expect."

The thugs nodded and moved for the door.

"And tell them no prisoners," Acosta added.

* * *

In her condor form, Vesta approached a warehouse in a complex of warehouses. The complex was located in a decidedly better tended section of Sao Paulo. It was a warehouse complex that housed a multitude of businesses on the northwest end of the city, near the outskirts that led to the underdeveloped Amazon basin. It was in this direction that Vesta and her three companions fled the orphanage and attempted to carve a life for themselves away from the city and the people who preyed upon them. The thought made Vesta scowl. Little had they known what predators were in that basin.

She banked right and came to a landing on the roof of a warehouse that ostensibly dealt in fruit and vegetables. But there had to be something behind this innocent facade, for this was the building Acosta's man directed her to. If this business was owned by Acosta, it had to be hiding something rotten besides last month's bananas. And even if it wasn't, it was linked to Acosta and she had to follow it. Even if Acosta was a legitimate businessman now, which she doubted, he had committed a criminal act, and against a friend of hers.

And she was going to make it right.

Changing into a mouse, Vesta skittered along the roof, past the solar collectors to a skylight. Squirming in through a crack between the skylight and its frame, Vesta climbed onto a rafter in the ceiling and surveyed the building. There was a din of activity as workers and robots moved produce from cooler to transport - - all perfectly legitimate. There was no sign of Sancha or her family and no sign of Acosta.

Then she noticed a security guard with a handheld tracker. That was unusual for a produce warehouse. Produce wasn't THAT valuable that it needed guards. Two more guards were converging on the one with the tracker and the three were headed for her side of the building. Vesta looked around to see if she had tripped any motion sensor or radar device. Nothing readily stood out as such a device, but it didn't matter. Vesta concluded she was being tracked. Changing from a mouse to a moth, Vesta vacated the rafter and began flittering toward the building office.

"She's on the move!" the guard with the tracker announced. The others stopped in their tracks. Suddenly he pivoted and pointed. "There!" and he pointed toward Vesta the moth.

A laser beam cut across Vesta's path. She'd been pinpointed. Stealth was no longer an option. Transforming again, a gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex landed squarely in the middle of the warehouse floor. It kicked a forklift robot out of its way, bent down and roared angrily at the three guards.

They responded by opening fire on Vesta with their laser pistols. The beams struck home on her stomach and thighs, burning her scaly flesh. Roaring in pain, Vesta lashed out with one huge leg and kicked one of the guards across the room, along with a pallet of melons. The floor shook when she stepped, keeping the other two from getting a good shot off. A sweep of Vesta's tail sent the other two guards flying amid boxes of pineapples, bananas and cucumbers. Ready to press her defense, Vesta stood and waited for the guards to get up. That's when several projectiles struck her in the back. The projectiles bounced off of her skin, but the impact was enough to push Vesta forward before she could catch herself. Stumbling to a stop, she turned toward the new attack.

Several of the warehouse workers were emerging from the crates of produce. Three had prosthetic projectile launchers that had emerged from their left arms. Two others were racing forward on prosthetic legs at speeds far beyond a normal human. Vesta roared angrily at them.

And then she was gone. The warehouse workers all stopped and looked around in confusion.

"The Boss warned us she was a shape-shifter!" one of the workers with the projectile cannon arms shouted. "She must have turned into a fly! Blanket the area!"

The cannon arms pointed into the air in different directions. At once they began emitting a powerful sonic blast. The windows in the office above the warehouse floor began to vibrate. Since they were transparent aluminum, they didn't break. But the sound waves reflecting off of the metal increased the power of the vibrations.

Above, Vesta, who was a mosquito rather than a fly, tried to regain control of her flight. But the sound waves buffeted her insect form and made it impossible for her to reach her objective, that being the office. She had to change into something else. But what? The sound waves weren't affecting her physically other than the disruption of the air. But if she became something bigger, the sound could affect her hearing, probably at a painful level.

Dropping out of the ceiling above them, a garden snake landed on the floor between them and immediately began slithering for the shadows. Careful to keep her tongue in her mouth, Vesta streaked between the legs of one of the workers and lost herself amid the pallets of produce. Slithering under a pallet, Vesta only then probed with her tongue to see if the sonic assault was still going on. She determined that it was over and began planning her path to the office. She had to find out if either Sancha or Acosta was here.

Just then a wave of dizziness and nausea flooded over her. Vesta lay on the floor and tried to will the wave back. She'd done it again: too many transformations in too short a time - - or maybe it was her concussion. She was pushing herself too hard either way. Vesta had to wait and regain some of her strength.

But did Sancha have the time to allow her to rest?

"There she is!" shouted one of the workers. He jammed his prosthetic arm under the pallet and began firing. Springing forward, Vesta transformed back into a mouse and scurried to the wall, then hugged the wall as she made her way to the conveyor. The conveyor led to the office. If she could get to the office, she could find out what she was looking for.

Projectiles skipped along the floor next to her and ricocheted off the wall behind her. Vesta pushed on, fighting off another wave of nausea. The edge of the conveyor was in sight. She only had a few more feet to go.

But the impact of a projectile in the wall behind her pushed her off of her feet and sent Vesta the mouse tumbling forward into the middle of the floor just beyond the conveyor. Vesta reacted instinctively. She transformed into a Bengal tiger. Crouching, she snarled a warning at her pursuer, ready to leap at him with fang and claw at the first provocation.

"Converge!" shouted the recovered guard to the others. "We got her! Shoot to kill and don't miss!"

The circle began to grow tighter around Vesta. Her stomach and her head told her that she didn't have any more transformations in her. One of the gun arms fired and Vesta leaped at the nearest warehouse worker, her claws out and her fangs bared, determined to fight her way out of this or die trying.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. Helping Out A Friend

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 6: "Helping Out A Friend"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Taking the form of a Bengal tiger, Vesta crouched and launched herself at the nearest warehouse worker, determined to take him out before he could bring his cybernetically enhanced left arm to bear to fire deadly projectiles at her. Three other warehouse workers, each with metal launchers for left arms, brought their weapons to bear with the sole purpose of killing Vesta. Two others, possessing cybernetic legs that gave them impossible speed, started forward with the intent of pulling Vesta off of their fellow combatant and holding her down to get an easier shot at her. The odds were against her. But as she buried sharp fangs into the throat of her assailant, Vesta didn't care. Her victim gurgled out a shout and went limp, blood oozing out over the floor near a pallet of ears of corn.

Unexpectedly, the giant sliding door to the warehouse exploded inward and landed loudly on the cement floor. Startled, everyone turned to the noise. Vesta's eyes popped when she saw Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi running in through the newly opened portal. Pallas was gesturing and must have rammed the door open with her telekinesis. Two of the warehouse workers turned back to take care of Vesta while the others moved to meet the intruders.

"FLORAL STIMULATION!" Ceres shouted, her command echoing through the rafters of the gigantic warehouse.

From the nearby crates of yellow squash, vines began to snake out at an abnormal rate of speed. They seized the two workers nearest Vesta, their vines thickening as they moved. Despite the struggles of their two victims, the vines wound around them until the two men were held tight. They continued to fight, but they were caught and with their prosthetic limbs held at their sides they had no leverage to use the devices to escape.

Meanwhile Sailor Saturn charged into action. Wading into the oncoming group of enhanced workers, Saturn began using her glaive to sever the prosthetic limbs of her adversaries. Bobbing, weaving, pirouetting in a hypnotic ballet of destruction, her glaive acting like it was an extension of her body, Saturn downed her attackers without any harm to herself or her companions. Once the attackers were on the floor and reeling, Sailor Moon produced her Moon Tier.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss," she commanded. Pink energy blanketed the room, taking the fight out of all of the combatants and leaving the assassins disguised as warehouse workers in a pleasant stuporous fog. With the threat neutralized, the senshi ran up to Sailor Vesta, who was transforming back into human form.

"Vesta, are you all right?" Pallas exclaimed anxiously. Vesta was winded and panting, but stood erect. She nodded to Pallas and the senshi seized her around the waist and hugged her tightly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Vesta wheezed indignantly. Ceres was about to respond with a cutting remark, but Sailor Moon stepped forward.

"What are YOU doing here?" she asked sharply.

"I'm helping a friend!" Vesta snapped, her back arching defensively. Sailor Moon smiled.

"So are we," she said.

And Vesta stared, stunned. Her eyes began to water. Words wouldn't come out of her mouth. The girl swallowed several times, trying to kick-start her mind back into operation. For a moment everyone thought she would start crying. Finally her gaze dropped to the floor.

"Thanks," she grunted gratefully. Then she noticed Pallas looking up at her, beaming happily. Vesta surrendered and smiled back.

"Is this where Sancha Bravo is being held?" Juno asked.

"Don't know yet," Vesta responded. She tore away from Pallas and headed for the conveyor well.

But as she moved, she noticed that Sailor Moon had noticed the mauled body behind her. Vesta waited a moment for her charge's condemnation or admonishment. When none came, she continued up to the warehouse office.

Entering the office, Vesta looked around for some sign of someone having been there and either exited through another passage or gone to a place to lay in wait for her. Ordinarily she would transform into a canine form and sniff them out. But she wouldn't be transforming for a while yet. Sounds behind her made Vesta look. The other senshi had followed her up.

"Is she here?" Saturn asked.

"Doesn't look like it," Vesta sighed. "Means the guy I squeezed the info out of set me up instead of telling me the truth."

"Gods, how did Mom ever deal with these stupid things!" Sailor Moon roared, turning sideways to work her new costume wings in through the door. "Was she ever here? Maybe they heard you were coming and moved her."

"Can't tell that," Vesta exhaled with fatigue. "And it's going to be a while before I can transform again, so I can't look for her scent."

"Pallas," Sailor Moon directed. "Scan the room. See if you can find any sign that someone was held here, or where they might be now." Pallas nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate. "Juno, go out and question those warehouse workers. They should be in a pretty suggestible state right now and ought to tell you anything they know." Juno nodded and headed back to the floor.

"This warehouse is connected with Acosta! I know it!" growled Vesta in frustration. "It's a front for whatever business he's really running!"

"Maybe this guy is legit," offered Ceres.

"Not the Acosta I knew," Vesta countered. "He wouldn't settle for selling fruit and vegetables. But this would be the perfect front for running something like smuggling drugs or weapons. Hey, maybe he's into illegal cybernetics! You saw those guys out there!"

"That's another issue for another time," Sailor Moon cautioned. "Right now we have to concentrate on finding your friend and getting her away from this Acosta. THEN we can deal with his attempts on your life." She began typing on her PDA, accessing her father's vast computer network. "I can probably get a list of all of Acosta's registered property from Pop's computer. It'll give us something to search."

"How about I go down and ask those guys down there," Vesta suggested. She started for the door, but Sailor Moon intercepted her with a hand on her arm.

"Juno can handle it," Sailor Moon told her, sounding eerily like King Endymion. "You need to rest. Saturn, see what you can do to help her."

"I'm all right," grumbled Vesta.

"Really?" Ceres commented as Saturn moved in. "Because you look like you were in a bar fight - - and lost!"

"Let Miss Saturn-Ma'am help you, Vesta!" Pallas scolded. Vesta scowled, but she didn't resist. Juno entered.

"Well they knew you were coming, Vesta," Juno said. "Senora Bravo was never here. And they don't know where she's being held. But they admitted to working for this Acosta and the whole thing was a set up to kill you." She produced a miniaturized portable communications device. "And they all had these. Want to bet one of the numbers in its memory is Acosta's?"

"I'll plug it into my PDA and get traces on all the numbers," Sailor Moon exclaimed, taking the device from Juno. "Let's head for the air car. The sooner we get going, the greater the chance we can arrive before anyone warns them."

The senshi got into the air car and were off. Vesta sat in one seat, focused on her task to the exclusion of all else. Sailor Moon busied herself with downloading the memory of the communications device and tracing the numbers. Juno piloted the car, while everyone else was silenced by the thick atmosphere of the vehicle.

"I've got some locations connected with the numbers I downloaded," Sailor Moon told Juno. "I'm sending you the coordinates."

"Got them, Princess," Juno nodded.

"So, Vesta," Sailor Moon said, swiveling her seat toward the crimson senshi. "What's the deal between you and this Acosta guy? Why does he want you dead?"

Vesta saw everyone but Juno turn toward her. They were all interested in the explanation. Even Juno was listening while she flew the air car. Anger welled up inside of the senshi, but she pushed it back. They were her fighting comrades, her friends, her sisters. It wasn't prying. They deserved to know.

"Acosta and me go back," Vesta explained. "We grew up in the same neighborhood. Ran the same streets. Got into the same sort of trouble. He was a runt - - short, weak. The kind of guy that gets preyed on by the streets unless he thinks of a way to survive. If you can't out-fight the streets, you have to out-think them. Sometimes you have to do both."

"Sounds rough," Saturn commented.

"It wasn't no picnic, for any of us," Vesta continued. "It wasn't like we were friends or nothing. I was too busy worrying about myself and my crew. And Acosta learned his lessons early, so he knew the score." Vesta's face hardened. "Yeah, he knew the score."

Suddenly Pallas put her hands to her mouth and gasped in shock. Vesta glanced at her and knew Pallas had read her mind.

"What happened?" Sailor Moon gently prodded.

"Back when we were twelve - - Marcelino was selling Caina," Vesta related bitterly. "Making a pretty good living at it, too. I was running with Rudolfo. We were on the way." Vesta paused and the pain of the memory was still fresh in her mind. "Then Marcelino gets Rudolfo hooked on Caina. I tried to get him away from it. Tried everything I knew. But I was only twelve. What the Hell did I know about helping a Caina addict?" She took a moment. "Stuff destroyed him." She took an emotional breath. "We were in love. We were going to rule that - - and then he was gone. Starved to death because all he could think about was getting more Caina."

Everyone silently waited for Vesta to continue.

"I confronted Marcelino in his lab," Vesta related. "He said it was just business." Vesta ground her teeth in anger. "So I picked up a beaker of the stuff from where it was boiling and threw it in his face. Burned the Hell out of my hand. Burned the Hell out of his face. And the hot Caina blinded him."

And there was a momentary look of triumph in Vesta's eyes.

"His muscle dragged me out and beat the crap out of me," she continued. "Almost cashed in. When I finally got released from the hospital, the government sent me to Quatro Pai. That's where I met the other Amazons."

"And this Acosta blames you for blinding him?" Saturn asked.

"Probably," grunted Vesta. "But that's OK, because I blame him for killing Rudolfo. And if I'd been a little older and a little wiser back then, I'd have killed the little animal there in his lab instead of just blinding him."

Pallas got out of her seat, walked over, and hugged Vesta. Vesta struggled not to cry.

* * *

"Mr. Acosta," came the throaty voice of Acosta's personal assistant over the intercom. "Ruiz on channel sixty-two."

Acosta leaned over and pressed the crystal stud on his computer station. And once again he was reminded of his handicap. The sensors in his prosthetic vision visor couldn't distinguish the LED images that flashed on his computer station. To compensate, the computer was set up with a wireless broadcast feature that would transmit the picture signal to a receptor in his visor. The receptor would then translate it into an image that could be relayed to his brain via the visor's sensory implant.

"What's happening?" Acosta asked. On the screen was a muscular man with a vision augmentation visor that plugged into a receptor implant in the side of his skull. Unlike Acosta, he could remove the visor and still see.

"Target got away," Ruiz reported. He was receiving broadcast telemetry from an observation drone hovering outside of the produce warehouse, watching everything that happened through the visor from a remote location.

"Again?" Acosta hissed with frustration. "She can't have gotten that good that quick, even with her 'new abilities'."

"She had help this time," Ruiz reported. "Five other women, all in the same type of sailor uniforms she wears. It's probably that Sailor Senshi team from Japan that she runs with now. They made pretty quick work of your cyborgs."

"That complicates things," Acosta concluded. "We have to isolate Vanessa again." Acosta paused and thought. "Where are they now?"

"All six of them took off in an air car."

"Have your drone follow them," Acosta told his man. "Tie it in with my computer station. I want to know where they are at every moment. If they separate, let me know immediately."

"Right, Boss," Ruiz nodded. Acosta cut the link. Then he pressed another crystal stud on his computer station. Within thirty seconds, his personal assistant entered.

"Yes, Mr. Acosta?" the woman, Elena Rodriguez, asked.

"Summon all the cyborgs we have on the payroll," Acosta told her. "Have them wait at the safe house. Put the word out to all of the independent contractors and street muscle with cybernetic augmentation that I have a job for them and that it's worth a lot to me. I want as much enhanced muscle as I can get as quickly as I can get it."

"Yes, Mr. Acosta," Elena nodded. "I assume your latest attempt failed?"

"Yes," Acosta frowned. "I'm through trusting other people to do the job. I'm going to have to bring her to me."

* * *

The drone following the senshi's air car observed them set down near the offices of Sunset Enterprises. Sunset Enterprises was a local corporation that dealt with several different, divergent businesses. It was situated in the Sao Paulo business district, nestled in among other thriving enterprises in the "respectable" part of town. Emerging from the air car was Sailor Moon and her five senshi, all in full uniform. It was fortunate that it was after five in the afternoon so there weren't more people to point and stare.

"Are you sure about this address?" Saturn asked doubtfully. "This seems like an ordinary office building."

"And that produce warehouse was just an ordinary warehouse," Vesta replied.

"Address confirms with the comm-link," Sailor Moon told her. Then she ran a quick check on her PDA. "Sunset Enterprises list of subsidiaries includes the produce company that was using that warehouse."

"You figure the whole company's a front?" Juno speculated. "A way to launder the money from their illegal activities?"

"It's possible," Sailor Moon nodded, "if they're engaged in illegal activities."

"Last time I checked, kidnapping was an illegal activity," snapped Vesta irritably. "So was blowing up an apartment and weaponizing cybernetic augmentation."

"Point taken, Vesta. Keep your head," Sailor Moon advised her.

"Do we go in as senshi?" Ceres asked. "We kind of stand out this way."

"They know we're here," Sailor Moon replied. "All office buildings have surveillance as part of their security package."

"They can't track me if I don't want to be tracked," Vesta said. She was about to transform, but Sailor Moon's hand stopped her.

"Stick with the group, Vesta," Sailor Moon told her. "You're a target, remember. Safety in numbers."

Headed for the front entrance, Sailor Moon walked as if she expected her senshi to follow. Naturally they did. They were met in the front lobby by building security. A wave of the Moon Tier subdued all resistance from him. Entering the building turbo-chute, the senshi were instantly transported up to the twelfth floor.

They were greeted by an expansive lobby and waiting area. At the end of a long, impressive walk was a desk with a beautiful black-haired woman, her impressive figure displayed by an expensive, flattering suit dress. The woman rose behind the desk as they approached.

"May I help you?" Elena asked.

"Mr. Acosta here?" Sailor Moon asked bluntly.

"I am not at liberty to give out that information," Elena replied cooly.

"Tell him it's an 'old friend'," snarled Vesta.

Sailor Moon extended her arm to bar Vesta's path. "I want to talk to Mr. Acosta about the dispute he has with my friend here," she said calmly, but forcefully. "I want this to end with nobody else getting hurt."

"Mr. Acosta is not seeing anyone at the moment," Elena answered.

"It's to his benefit that we work this out," Sailor Moon warned.

"I'm sorry. I am under specific instructions that Mr. Acosta will see no one," Elena told them. "Now please leave or I will have you dealt with forcefully."

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way," sighed Sailor Moon. Her hand went up and summoned the Moon Tier.

And in the moment she raised her hand, both of Elena Rodriguez's arms peeled back, revealing the high-velocity projectile guns underneath. Another, smaller gun appeared from a hatch at her waist, while two more smaller guns sprang up from behind her, out of her shoulder blades, these mounted on mechanical arms. The guns cocked in unison.

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. Vengeance Is Mine

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 7: "Vengeance Is Mine"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

How long had it been?

Sancha Bravo pressed her son to her, rubbing her hand along his back to try to get him to stop crying. The sound irritated her as it irritated everybody. She cooed in his ear, trying to ease his mind. Of course Jaime was crying. He was tired and hungry and he wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed. She understood all too well.

"Can't you shut that kid up!" snapped one of the thugs holding them prisoner. The man went back to searching the vid-streams for entertainment.

Sancha looked over to Martin. He returned her gaze and she didn't like what she saw. Martin was humiliated by all of this. He was helpless to protect his wife and daughter and it ate at his pride. Sure he was scared for himself, but he was more scared that he couldn't protect the ones he loved. It always seemed to be a hard life for them, living by their wits on the outskirts of the law, two mice in a world of predators just trying to survive until their lucky break came. This only seemed to reinforce just how helpless they were against the big, uncaring world. Sancha wanted to hold him and tell Martin that she didn't blame him for this. But her hands were full trying to calm little Jaime.

And then a shadow loomed over them. Sancha looked up and found the man with the dark glasses standing over them. Jaime continued to cry. Sancha tensed.

"Is he hungry?" the man asked. There was no menace to his question, but little compassion either.

"N-no," Sancha mumbled, averting her eyes. "He's just scared."

"Not much we can do about that," he replied and moved off. The breath shuddered out of Sancha.

"Well I'm sick of listening to it," rumbled the other thug, the one with the prosthetic augmentation to his arm. He walked over to them with a deliberate pace. Then he pointed his projectile cannon at Sancha and Jaime. "Shut him up."

"Leave her alone," Dark Glasses grunted. "It's just a baby."

"I don't give a damn!" he snapped. "Shut him up! NOW!"

With that, Martin bolted forward. He threw his entire weight against the prosthetic-toting hood, sending them both crashing to the floor. But Martin's forte in this life was not fighting. The wild blows he landed were mostly ineffectual. Then a blow to his abdomen with the barrel of the projectile cannon doubled him over. The cannon, used like a club, sent him to the floor amid the terrified shrieks of Sancha.

"Stupid move, pig!" fumed the hood. He rose up over Martin, bringing his cannon arm to bear. "Boss says we have to keep you alive! Didn't say anything about you being in one piece!"

Martin only groaned helplessly on the floor.

"Please don't do it!" Sancha pleaded. "He was only trying to protect me! Please!"

And Jaime howled even louder.

The projectile cannon took aim at Martin's right leg, right at the knee. Then a hand closed onto the shoulder of the cannon arm. The wielder looked and found Dark Glasses gripping his shoulder.

"Sit down," Dark Glasses said with weary disgust. "Stop trying to show everybody what a big shot you think that cannon makes you. You're only embarrassing yourself."

"Yeah? Kiss my . . .!" the thug began.

Dark Glasses struck him once in the face with a closed fist. It was as fast a blow as Sancha had ever - - barely - - saw. The prosthetic-augmented hood stiffened and dropped to the floor, unconscious. He turned to Martin.

"I know why you did that," he said. "Don't really blame you. But learn to fight first." He glanced at Sancha. "Try to shut that kid up. He's getting on everybody's nerves."

"Let us go and you won't have to worry about it," Sancha said irritably. It was an act she immediately regretted.

But Dark Glasses only snorted. "Yeah, that would solve everything." And he stepped over his partner to go back to the vid-stream.

* * *

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way," sighed Sailor Moon. Her hand went up and summoned the Moon Tier.

And in the moment she raised her hand, both of Elena Rodriguez's arms peeled back, revealing the high-velocity projectile guns underneath. Another, smaller gun appeared from a hatch at her waist, while two more smaller guns sprang up from behind her, out of her shoulder blades, these mounted on mechanical arms. The guns cocked in unison.

"SILENCE WALL!" Saturn shouted frantically, hoping she could erect her force field before the guns fired.

She need not have worried. The guns were only a show of force to convince Sailor Moon to stop her advance. In that respect, they worked perfectly.

"Is she even human?" Ceres asked in awe.

"Yes, she's a people," Pallas answered with a nod. "But she does have a lot of dolly parts."

"You," gasped Sailor Moon, "actually let someone do this to you?"

Elena didn't answer. Her weapons didn't waver, either.

"Did Marcelino force you to do this?" demanded Vesta. "Did he make you carve yourself up into his personal toy?"

"Mr. Acosta pulled me out of the streets," Elena replied at last. "He gave me a job that pays well and a future that I didn't have growing up in poverty in the slums. Yeah, he made me take on these prosthetics - - but what did I have before? Nothing!" Her mouth hardened. "It was a small price to pay."

"You're not even human anymore!" Vesta shot back. "You're just one more of Marcelino's puppets!"

"You're one to talk. You turn into animals! I would be dead now if I was still in the old neighborhood!" argued Elena. "Or working the streets for enough credits to scrape by! Or struggling to feed half a dozen babies on charity handouts!" She gathered in her temper. "Turn around and leave. You're not going in that office."

"Not until I find out where Sancha is," Vesta growled. "You tell me and we're gone. You don't and I find out whether there's blood in your veins or hydraulic fluid."

"Vesta," Sailor Moon said as a warning. She turned to Elena. "I realize your loyalty to your employer has brought about this choice. But this situation is going to boil over beyond the point that he can handle it and he could end up getting seriously hurt by it. I'm trying to end this before it boils over. If you help us, you'll be doing him a favor, whether he realizes it or not."

"Leave or I open fire," Elena replied.

The Moon Tier appeared in Sailor Moon's hand. Elena's chest guns opened up, but the projectiles she fired ricocheted off of Saturn's wall and tore up the office to the right and left of them.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss," Sailor Moon said.

Waves of pink energy radiated out from the Moon Tier and blanketed Elena. Her face went blank. Her weapons stopped firing. She stood motionless for a moment. Then her ability to stand seemed to wash out of her. Elena slid back into her chair. She stared out at nothing in particular, a haunted look on her face. Everyone stared at her curiously. Even Sailor Moon was surprised by the reaction her attack had elicited.

"So that's what bliss is like," Elena mumbled.

"Come on," Sailor Moon said, moving to the inner office. "Let's see what we can find."

The senshi headed into the office, Vesta taking the precaution of bringing up the rear and watching Elena the entire time. But as she passed the executive assistant, Elena reached out and caught the senshi's hand.

"The last place you met," Elena said. "Mr. Acosta said to tell you that if you got past me." She gripped Vesta's hand tighter. "Don't go. Death is the only thing waiting for you there. It's not worth it."

"Abandon Sancha?" Vesta replied, jerking her hand from the woman's grip. "No chance."

"Then go alone," Elena warned. "If they come with you, Mr. Acosta and your friends will disappear."

Vesta stared at her, trying to judge whether she could trust the woman's warning. Finally Vesta nodded and headed into the office. For her part, Elena gathered up her personal belongings from the desk, collected some ready cash she knew to be stashed in the outer office for emergencies, then headed for the exit. Sailor Moon had shown her that the bliss she thought she had was a lie she'd told herself. This was her resignation.

"Find anything?" Vesta asked as she entered the room.

"Plenty," Juno replied, leafing through the contents of a wall safe. "Nothing that would trace where your friend is."

"Pallas doesn't get any sense of anyone who was your friend," Pallas said. "She's picking up feelings about you, Vesta, but they're mean feelings. Mr. Acosta-Sir didn't like you."

"Feeling's mutual," grunted Vesta.

"I'm downloading Acosta's computer files," Sailor Moon added. "Maybe we can find something in them."

"Maybe," Vesta scowled.

"Look, don't give up," Ceres cautioned Vesta. "Say, how about we go to our hotel, get something to eat, get some rest, maybe look through these computer files? It's got to be better than just running around blindly."

"It's not a bad idea," suggested Sailor Moon. "I know you want to keep looking, Vesta, because you're worried about your friend. But we need to rest and rethink this - - especially you. You've been through more than any of us and you're about to drop."

"Yeah, all right," Vesta relented. "I just - - I hate to think of me sitting around while that sick bastard Marcelino might be killing Sancha and her family at the same time." She looked down. "But if you say so, we'll break it off - - for now."

The senshi settled into their hotel rooms, procured by Garcia from the consulate. Each were in adjoining rooms: Usa and Hotaru doubling up, Ves pairing with Palla-Palla at the blue haired senshi's insistence, and Cere bunking with Jun. As they walked down the hall to their rooms, everyone noticed the deep depression that had hold of Ves.

"Hey, how about we get some dinner?" Jun suggested. "I know I haven't eaten since we got here."

"Nah," Ves grunted. "I'm going to sack out for a while."

"Come on, Ves! You need to keep up your strength!" Jun protested.

"And is Sancha going to have a nice hot meal to sit down to?" snapped Ves. "Bad enough I'm sleeping while she's going through God knows what! I'm only doing that because I'm ready to cave!" She got to her room and the computer lock retina-scanned her, then opened the door. "If I feel hungry, I'll have something sent up. In the mean time, don't bother me unless you find her."

The door hissed shut. Palla-Palla looked at the others anxiously, then followed her in.

"She's taking it well," huffed Cere.

"I'm," Usa began. Hotaru glanced at her sympathetically. "I should get on these computer files. Ves may not be very diplomatic about it, but she is right: It's urgent we find her friend as soon as possible, for everyone's sake." She grimaced for a moment. "But I think I will have something sent up."

"I'll join you, Usa," Hotaru offered. "Two heads, you know?"

"Great! I wonder if this place makes a good pizza." And the two disappeared into their room.

"Well I'm eating in the restaurant," Cere declared. Jun sighed. "Don't give me that look, Jun!" she scowled, glaring at her sister. "There's nothing either of us can do to find Ves's friend right now, so until we've got a place to look we may as well hang loose. And I'd much rather hang loose in the restaurant. I've heard a lot of good things about this hotel's restaurant."

"Yeah, I know," Jun frowned. "But I feel so - - disloyal. Ves is worried sick about her friend. I should be trying to comfort her."

"Jun, you know as well as I do that Ves would just tell us to get lost," Cere said. "The best thing we can do is recharge and be ready to move. Besides, the way this Acosta guy is playing it, he'll probably come to us. He seems to want Ves bad."

"OK," sighed Jun. "Hey, you're not going to change? You've been wearing that outfit all day."

"We traveled light, remember," Cere said with disappointment. "I'll just have to wow people with my natural beauty." She grew a wicked grin. "Unless you want to go shopping with me for a new outfit?"

"I think we're just going to have to rough it," Jun replied cynically.

"Only out of respect for Ves," Cere conceded.

An hour later, inside the hotel room of the Princess Usagi, she and Hotaru were combing through the records on Acosta's computer.

"None of this makes any sense, Usa!" Hotaru exclaimed as she looked at the record display on her work station screen. Beside her, an empty plate sat. The hotel didn't have pizza on their menu, so the two girls settled for a traditional Brasilia dish consisting of beef, beans and rice.

"It's encrypted," Usa said distantly, studying the readout on her screen. "Naturally it would be. A guy like Acosta wouldn't leave his computer records unencrypted, in case they fell into the wrong hands."

"Can you decode it?"

"I'm sure I could," Usa nodded confidently. Then she deflated a little. "I just don't know how long it would take."

"Maybe your father's computer could do it," Hotaru suggested.

"It's not a question of 'if', Hotaru. It's a question of 'when'," Usa replied. "Breaking encryptions takes time. Now if the life of Ves and her friend weren't under immediate threat, I could take the time to decode it and give it to the police and they could probably nail this Acosta with what's on it." She glanced jauntily at Hotaru. "Because I'm almost as sure as Ves is that this guy isn't a saint."

"But her friend's life IS in the balance," Hotaru nodded. "And he could make another attempt on Ves at any time." She blew out air in frustration. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"

"I haven't given up yet," Usa countered.

"Well you keep at it," Hotaru said, and rose from her seat. "I'm going to try calling Utaka. I don't think he's started morning classes yet in Crystal Tokyo. I'll be in the bathroom if you find something."

"Why are you going in there?" needled Usa. "Afraid you'll say something incriminating?"

"I'm afraid my gossipy best friend will spread everything I say all over the palace," Hotaru huffed, but couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Usa, smirking herself, returned to studying the encrypted files.

At the same time, two rooms down, Ves slid quietly out of bed. Palla-Palla was in the bathroom of their suite, bathing. Mindful not to make any noise, Ves slipped on her clothing and buckled her boots. As a precaution, Ves tried to keep her mind as blank as possible, so as not to risk Palla-Palla sensing her plans.

Fully dressed, Ves crept to the door as lightly as a cat stalking prey. Motioning to the door's sensors, Ves heard the hiss of the door and saw the sudden flood of light from the hall, and bolted out. The door's sound was an unavoidable sign. Listening for signs that Palla-Palla was giving chase, Ves heard none. Nodding, she turned and hurried for the lift.

Sure, she was walking straight into Acosta's hands. Ves knew that the moment Elena had given her the information. It was Acosta's invitation, as if it had been engraved on linen. There was no more need for striking from a distance. Acosta was tired of it and wanted an end.

Ves wanted an end, too. She would walk into his hands. If he was man enough, it would be a showdown between the two of them. If he was a coward and hid behind his augmented thugs, so be it. She would wade through them all to get to him.

And it would end. Sancha and her husband and her baby boy would go free. If it meant Acosta's death, that was preferable. If it meant her death, that was fine. But she wasn't about to let Sancha suffer the same fate at Acosta's hands that Rudolfo had. She was willing to die if it set Sancha free and it meant that she felt the life ebb from Acosta even as she died.

Ves entered the hotel lobby and headed out the door and into the dusk of evening in Sao Paulo. This was going to end.

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. The Arena

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 8: "The Arena"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Ves walked down the darkening streets of the entertainment section of Sao Paulo, trying to blend into the shadows. Unfortunately for her, there were few shadows amid the garish LED displays for various bars, theaters and night clubs in the area. For years Sao Paulo's entertainment district had been a destination for those who could afford it as a place to have a memorable time. Unbidden, a memory came to Ves of when she and Sancha were nine, how they would work these streets either pickpocketing or appealing to the charity of others by being sympathetic street urchins. Though not without dangers, it was an easy way for two nimble fingered and passably cute young girls to acquire enough money to eat and buy the things life denied them.

The memory of Sancha spurred her on. Ves had to get to her. She knew where Acosta had told her to come. Unfortunately the most direct route from the hotel was through the entertainment district. If she could find a place to transform, she could change into a bird and fly there. Ves knew it was to her advantage to go as Sailor Vesta anyway. But there were too many people around and too much light. She was bound to be spotted. If it came to it, Ves would transform in public. Her dual identity was known in Japan and to anyone outside of Japan who cared to look. But transforming in public would draw attention to her and Ves didn't want to risk tipping Acosta to her location. She had to assume she might be under surveillance.

Stopping for a moment because something caught her eye, Ves looked. A girl about twelve stumbled into a couple outside of a theater. She mumbled an apology and slunk off into the night, seemingly embarrassed. The couple looked in her direction for a moment, then went on. They didn't know what happened, but Ves did. The girl had stumbled into the man intentionally as a distraction and picked his pocket. And the girl was the same one who had tried to rob her when Vesta was unconscious in the alley earlier. Ves smiled. The girl couldn't pick a pocket with the skill Sancha had, but she was learning.

And in that moment, Ves realized that someone was following her. Was it Acosta's men? There wasn't time to find out. Ves knew she had to get to Sancha and her family. There wasn't time to deal with anyone sent to track or delay her. Her eyes glanced around without her head moving, so as not to tip them off that she sensed them. Then she saw it. There was a dark area near the divide between two buildings, an access alley darkened by a malfunctioning street light. It was probably a blind alley, but that wasn't important to Ves. Once she was transformed, she could provide her own exit.

Without increasing her speed, Ves turned and headed for the alley. The dark enveloped her. She saw the wall at the end of the alley. For anyone else, this would be a trap. But not for her. Her henshin stick appeared in her hand. Softly speaking her transformation phrase, Ves became Sailor Vesta. At that moment, she heard someone else enter the alley.

"Vesta!" came a peevish voice.

"Pallas?" gasped Vesta in shock. Through the darkness, she saw Sailor Pallas approach. "How'd you find me? How'd you even know?"

"Vesta, you know you can't hide anything from Pallas!" Pallas barked. "Why won't you let us help you? Pallas doesn't want to see you get hurt!"

"I'm not going to get hurt," grunted Vesta.

"STOP FIBBING!" Pallas shouted. "You know you might not come back! Pallas can hear it in your head!"

"Keep your voice down!" Vesta hissed. "Look - - if I go charging in with the Princess and the Asteroids, Marcelino might get spooked and kill Sancha. Hell, he might do it just because he's pissed off. I got to go in there alone."

"No, you don't!" Pallas argued. "Pallas can help you! Pallas wants to help you! Because you have to come back so you can look after Pallas! Pallas can't look after herself! Pallas needs Vesta to come back!"

"All right, all right!" Vesta relented, trying to calm her sister down. "You can come along. But I've got to run this my way, Pallas. I know the situation better than you do. And you got to do just what I say. I can't take any risks that would put Sancha in more danger."

"Pallas will do just what you say, Vesta," Pallas nodded. "Pallas promises."

"OK," Vesta nodded back. "Now I have to figure out how to get there. I was going to fly, but you're too heavy to carry."

"Not if you become a flying horsie," Pallas suggested. Vesta looked at her and then grinned slyly.

"Man, all those years I called you stupid," Vesta chuckled. Pallas beamed at her.

* * *

"Now, you see? Don't you feel better?" Cere asked. She and Jun were returning to their hotel room from the hotel restaurant.

"OK, it was a good meal," Jun conceded. "I just wish I could have enjoyed it. But I was too busy wondering about Ves's friend.

"No kidding," Cere replied. "You didn't even notice that guy giving you the once over about four tables over. He was looking at you like he wished you were on the menu."

"Really? Well I can't bother with that now," Jun told her.

"Look, Jun, we'll find her," Cere advised. "The Princess is working on where she is. And after she gets some rest, Ves can track her as some animal. Plus the police are working on this case, too. I mean you don't blow up a whole building and not have the police not notice, even in The Bottoms. They may be arresting Acosta right now."

"Yeah," Jun sighed. They came up to the door of Ves and Palla-Palla. Jun signaled for entry. "Was the guy nice looking?"

"Eh," shrugged Cere. "I'd give him a chance if it was a slow night."

After a few moments with no response, Jun and Cere looked at each other.

"Ves was pretty worn out," Cere offered.

"Yeah, but no way Palla-Palla sleeps through a page," Jun reasoned. "You stay here. I'm going to get the Princess."

A few minutes later, Jun returned with Usa and Hotaru. Usa had her PDA in her hand.

"Do you suppose Ves went back out on her own?" Hotaru asked.

"Does the sun come up in the east?" Cere sighed. "I'm more worried about Palla-Palla."

"Fortunately these hotel computerized locks aren't that complex," Usa said. She began tapping on her PDA. Seconds later, the door hissed open. The four girls went inside.

"Yeah, Ves is gone," Jun announced after checking the sleeping area. "And I don't see her boots."

"Palla-Palla's not here, either," Hotaru said. "Do you suppose she went after Ves?"

"Very likely," Cere scowled. "And I SO wanted to get some sleep."

"Come on. I can still track Ves by her communicator," Usa said, headed for the suite door. "Unless she's in animal form."

"And if she is?" Jun asked.

"Then we'll just have to cruise around until she drops her transformation," Usa shrugged.

* * *

Soaring over the city, Sailor Pallas held on to Vesta's neck as the brown winged horse flew out of the entertainment district and into the seedier end known as The Bottoms. Though she would normally be cackling with glee at riding horseback, Pallas tempered her joy with the seriousness of the mission. She didn't quite understand the specifics of the situation, even though she had read them in Vesta's memories. Pallas only knew that this Acosta hated Vesta and wanted her dead, and she had to help stop him. That was all she needed to know.

The pair approached a two story pre-fabricated building in a lot with weeds forcing their way up from the pavement. The building was a multi-functional structure, capable of housing a small manufacturing concern, of being a warehouse or storage facility, or a storefront. From the looks of it, the building had been abandoned for several years. It was not an unusual feature to this particular area. Nearly every building in the area was abandoned and the ones that weren't featured heavy fencing and video surveillance.

Setting down in a lot down the street from the target building, concealed by a trash vaporizor and some abandoned chemical drums, Vesta transformed back into a human and gently set Pallas down.

"Is this where your friend is, Vesta?" Pallas asked, pointing to the building behind them.

"No, she's in there," and Vesta pointed to the pre-fab building down the street.

"How do you know?"

"That cyborg in Acosta's office," Vesta explained. "She said go to the last place I met Marcelino. It was there." Vesta's jaw tightened. "That's where Marcelino had his first Caina lab. It's where I blinded him. Marcelino had her tell me. He's tired of chasing me. He wants an end to this."

"Do we just walk in?" Pallas asked.

"'We' don't do anything," Vesta told her. She pointed up in the air. There were two observation drones circling the building. "The building's under surveillance. He'd spot us the moment we got close. But I can go in as a bird. Nobody's going to notice one more bird out hunting bugs."

"But Vesta!" whined Pallas. "Pallas has to help you! She has to get your back!"

"Get my. . .?" Vesta frowned. "HAVE my back. You will. But you have to do it here. Tune into my mind. If you sense I'm in trouble, come in and get me out." She grasped Pallas by the upper arms. "But BE CAREFUL! Don't just come running in blindly! Marcelino's got those drones, and probably cyborgs inside and who knows what else! Don't get yourself killed trying to save me. Understand?"

"Pallas understands," Pallas nodded gravely. "Pallas hopes you get your friend back."

Vesta gave her a reassuring smile. Then she transformed into a chimney swift. Flying up, she joined a flock of chimney swifts that were darting around the area, eating night flying insects. After a few passes, Vesta headed for the roof of the building.

Landing on the gutter of the roof, Vesta looked around. There was an observation camera on the far corner, scanning the roof for activity. Vesta froze and let it observe her for a couple of minutes. If she was being observed, acting like she was a bird roosting might put her observers at ease. After a time, she made the short flight over to an exhaust vent. Hopping inside, Vesta transformed into a spider once she was out of sight.

Using her natural ability to stick to walls and to climb, Vesta descended the exhaust vent into the building. As she imagined, the exhaust vent ended in a big canopy over where Acosta had once vented the fumes from his drug operation. She recalled it from the last time she was here. Crawling out onto the ceiling, Vesta looked around.

Cheap muscle, local punks with cybernetic augmentation, were stationed at points in the room in a vaguely circular pattern. Vesta counted sixteen in all. At the end of the room furthest from the door was Sancha, Martin and a baby. Sancha and Martin were tied to chairs while the baby lay on a table in front of them. He was very still and Vesta wondered what shape the baby was in. Behind them was Marcelino Acosta. Despite the visor over his eyes, Vesta recognized him. It wasn't hard to recall the face of the person she hated most in the world besides her father. So he was waiting for a confrontation with her, with her friends to coerce her and cyborg goons to tip the odds in his favor.

Not exactly a fair fight. But then, she wasn't expecting one.

"Come on down, Vanessa," Acosta announced suddenly, his mouth hard. "I know you're here."

Vesta froze. Had she tripped some surveillance device she hadn't noticed?

Acosta tapped his visor. "One of the compensating advantages of having to use one of these," Acosta said, "is the magnification. I know about your ability to transform yourself. I took the precaution of having this entire room swept of any living creature - - mice, bats, bugs, anything. The only living things in this room were me, my men and my - - guests. So when I saw movement, I knew it had to be you. Besides, I've had you and your friends under electronic surveillance since you left the produce warehouse."

Maybe he was bluffing. Vesta remained in spider form. Then Acosta pulled a laser pistol from under his expensively tailored jacket and pointed it to Sancha's head. Her friend's eyes clamped shut and she shuddered.

"All right!" Vesta said, landing on the floor as she transformed. "Life is still pretty cheap to you, isn't it?"

"It's currency to get what I want," Acosta replied, easing the pistol away from Sancha. Sancha shuddered.

"Because it's always been about what you want," sneered Vesta. "It's never mattered how much pain you inflicted on other . . ."

"Pain?" screamed Acosta. "Don't talk to me about pain! Do you know how much pain I was in when you blinded me? Do you know how long I suffered? Can you comprehend the things I still can't do, still can't perceive because you stole my sight from me?"

"It was just business," Vesta replied with contempt.

"YOU!" Acosta shouted, gesturing to the nearest thug. Vesta could see he had two prosthetic arms and moved like he had prosthetic legs. The cyborg approached. Acosta motioned him behind Sancha. "Stand here. If Vanessa moves, twist the woman's head off!"

Both Sancha and Martin whimpered in fear. The thug complied, bracing his hands on either side of Sancha's head. Acosta got up from his chair, the laser pistol in his hand, and ambled toward Vesta. Vesta's eyes darted from Sancha to him.

"You were always so tough," snorted Acosta. "You and Rudolfo, you were going to be the king and queen of The Bottoms. You were going to run things." Acosta spit on the floor. "Well what happened?"

"Let them go," Vesta rumbled. "Or by God I'll kill you."

"Empty threats," Acosta shot back. "You can't save them, anymore than you could save your precious Rudolfo." Acosta smiled mirthlessly. "You know how easy it was to get him hooked? All I had to do was play to his ego. He thought nothing could take him down. He thought he was smarter than everyone. He thought he could use Caina and not have it affect him the way it affected EVERYBODY ELSE!"

"You wouldn't have done it if you had a soul," Vesta growled.

"You still love him?" Acosta goggled. "He would have cheated on you, you know. His ego would have told him that he could get away with it - - that you would be so in love with him that you would forgive him, no matter how many other women he had." He snorted out a laugh. "Maybe you would have. Nobody ever confused you with a molecular engineer."

"I did all right," hissed Vesta.

"Yes, I can see!" Acosta exclaimed as he eased up to Vesta, the laser pistol pointed at her head. "I can see your impressive uniform. I know about your impressive powers. I've heard about your impressive position in Japan. Rudolfo would hardly recognize you today."

The pistol pressed to Vesta's forehead.

"And yet I'm about to burn a hole through your head," Acosta continued maliciously. "Because, Vanessa, for all of your impressive powers and your impressive position, I'm still smarter than you. And I always will be. I didn't get to where I am by just being tough. I got here by being smarter than everyone else. That's why men twice my size, with metal implants that turn them into living weapons, work for me."

"And I could still kill you before you could pull the trigger on that pistol," Vesta told him.

"But you won't," Acosta countered. "Because you could never get to Sancha in time to keep her from being killed. And that's always been your weakness, Vanessa: Loyalty. Loyalty is why I was able to lure you here in the first place. Loyalty is what keeps you in check right now. Loyalty is why you came here that night and stole my eyes from me, for a guy who was stringing you along just so you'd open your legs for him. Even though you knew it would mean nearly getting beaten to death, you still came to avenge him, out of loyalty. Well I learned what you were too stubborn or too stupid to learn. There's no place for loyalty in this world. The only way to thrive in this world is every man for himself." He pressed with the barrel of the laser pistol. "Loyalty will only get you killed."

Vesta stared at Acosta. She couldn't see any option open to her.

"Is killing me going to end this?" Vesta asked. "Are you going to leave them alone once I'm gone?"

Sancha whimpered.

"Maybe," Acosta replied. "Maybe I'll let them go. And maybe I'll kill them anyway, just because they're witnesses. Or just because the thought that all of your efforts were for nothing will make your death that much more painful for you."

"So which is it?" Vesta snarled in frustration.

Acosta's finger tightened on the trigger.

"Worry about it," he said with sadistic satisfaction.

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Got Your Back

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 9: "Got Your Back"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Pallas crouched behind an empty chemical drum across the street from the multiple use building Vesta had said was where Marcelino Acosta was. She stared at the building in a light trance, oblivious to everything around her. Her concentration was occupied monitoring Vesta's thoughts for signs of trouble.

Two young street kids, returning from an evening's work in the entertainment district, spotted Pallas as they passed by. One pointed.

["Look at her,"] he said in Portugese, a boy of eleven with bare feet, ragged beige twill pants and a dirty polo shirt. ["What do you think?"]

["Maybe she's hiding from the police,"] his companion, a girl of twelve in a faded sleeveless top, frayed shorts and sandals, said.

["Look at the way she's dressed,"] he persisted. ["Why is she wearing that sailor suit, you suppose?"]

["Who knows,"] his companion shrugged.

["Don't you want to find out?"]

["Stupid! If she is hiding from the police and we get involved, we could get caught! We're holding, remember?"]

["Yeah,"] he nodded. The pair hurried off. Pallas only noticed them peripherally.

Suddenly she tensed. Without a word, Pallas rose up and scurried across the street. Once she was in the building perimeter, the two observation drones trained in on her.

"Beautiful Incantation," she said distantly and waved her hands at the two drones. Each one exploded as if penetrated by an invisible projectile.

Pallas got to the edge of the building. Her eyes rolled up into her head. An invisible hand scooped her up and levitated Pallas to the roof of the building. The observation camera mounted on the roof turned to her movement. A wave of her hand dispatched it, too. Quickly Pallas ran across the roof to a certain point, then stopped. She looked down. Gesturing with her hand, she began to telekinetically tear roofing material from a certain spot.

"Is killing me going to end this?" Vesta asked. "Are you going to leave them alone once I'm gone?"

"Maybe," Acosta replied, the barrel of his laser pistol pressed into Vesta's forehead. "Maybe I'll let them go. And maybe I'll kill them anyway, just because they're witnesses. Or just because the thought that all of your efforts were for nothing will make your death that much more painful for you."

"So which is it?" Vesta snarled in frustration.

Acosta's finger tightened on the trigger.

"Worry about it," he said with sadistic satisfaction.

He had no functioning eyes to gleam with satisfaction, but the light seemed to dance off of his prosthetic visor the same way. Vesta's eyes shifted to Sancha. Sancha sat tied to a chair, her head between the hands of a cybernetically enhanced thug who would twist and break Sancha's neck at the first flinch Vesta made. Sancha stared back at Vesta in abject terror, this just the latest in a series of trials she had undergone in the last few days. She was terrified for Vesta and terrified for her family, but most of all she was terrified that she and her old friend were about to depart this world within seconds of each other. Her husband Martin sat tied to another chair, staring helplessly at his wife. And their baby lay on the table before them, so still.

Vesta steeled herself. If this was her time, she would face it bravely. She wouldn't give Marcelino the satisfaction of showing him fear.

Suddenly Acosta cried out in pain and surprise. His hand flinched back and the laser pistol fell to the floor. Everyone looked down at it, unable to comprehend what had just happened.. The pistol was crumpled and useless, like an invisible hand had crushed it. Just then, without warning, an invisible force slammed into the thug holding Sancha and pitched him backwards. Ever quick to take advantage of a situation, Vesta delivered a savage knee to Acosta's mid-section, then floored him with a spinning roundhouse kick. She would have delivered more, but a rush of confusion in the room drew her attention. Looking up, she saw Pallas levitating down from a hole in the ceiling.

"YOU WERE GOING TO KILL VESTA!" Pallas roared angrily as she eased to the ground. Her eyes were rolled up into her head. "PALLAS IS GOING TO MAKE YOU SORRY!"

The other cyborgs in the room charged forward. Several had augmented speed and leaping ability from prosthetic legs. One had heightened vision and hearing from implants in his eyes and ears. The others had prosthetic arms that could rend steel or which concealed projectile firearms. They were all converging on Vesta and Pallas.

But Pallas stuck her arms out from her sides and swept the room in a semi-circle. A powerful telekinetic force rippled out from her in a circular wave. It slammed into the cyborgs and threw them against the walls, then rattled the walls of the building with their force. Most of the cyborgs lay stunned. Two began to rise, though haltingly.

One with cybernetic legs charged forward again at a high rate of speed. Unsure if Pallas could catch him in time, Vesta acted.

"Fauna Assimilation - - Cheetah!" Vesta called out.

The fastest animal on Earth charged forward and intercepted the cyborg with an impressive leap. She fell on top of the man and began mauling the side of his neck and shoulder with her teeth. Just then projectile shots from another of the cyborgs ricocheted next to Vesta. Avoiding a second shot, Vesta sprang away.

Pallas pointed at the cyborg using his projectile cannon, the fingers on her hand splayed. The same invisible telekinetic force that crushed the laser pistol earlier seized the projectile cannon. The barrel crumpled and the electric feedback from the damaged circuitry sent a charge through the cyborg's human parts. He screamed in pain and fainted. By now the other thugs were starting to move in.

"FIERY INCANTATION!" Pallas bellowed out angrily.

A wall of flame sprang up from the floor, cutting the thugs off and driving them back. Giving up the mission, they collected the wounded and headed for the exits. The threat neutralized, Vesta looked around for Acosta.

"Where is he?" she shouted. "Where'd he go?"

"Out the back," Sancha said vacantly. She was staring at her baby, still lying on the table. Vesta started to pursue. "Vanessa, please! Jaime! Help Jaime! He's so still!"

Vesta came over and examined the six-month-old child. Pallas circled around and untied Sancha and Martin. Once she was free, Sancha lunged for her baby.

"Sancha, what did they do?" Vesta asked.

"He kept crying," Sancha wept, caressing the child's head. "He wouldn't stop crying. He was scared. He was just scared and tired and hungry - - and he wanted to go home. He just wanted to go home."

"Sancha, what did they do?" Vesta demanded urgently. But Sancha would just cry. Martin held her shoulders and peered down at his son.

"The bad men gave him Caina," Pallas squeaked, reading the thoughts of the parents. "They did it so he would stop crying."

"Shit!" Vesta gasped. She looked down at the child. "Sancha, he's still breathing!"

"We've got to get him to a doctor!" Sancha cried. Hysterically she looked up at Vesta. "Vanessa, you've got to get him to a doctor!"

"Fauna Assimilation - - Pegasus!" Vesta shouted and transformed into a winged horse. "Get Jaime! Get on my back! I'll get you to a hospital!"

Sancha and Martin, with Jaime in Martin's arms, climbed onto Vesta's back. Vesta looked to Pallas.

"Pallas," she began.

"Help your friend," Pallas said. "Pallas will find you."

"Right," she nodded and started to go. Then she turned back. "Thanks for having my back."

Thrusting into the air, Vesta flew out through the hole in the roof, Sancha and Martin astride her. Pallas watched them go.

"Pallas always will, Vesta." Noticing the smoke from the fire, Pallas snuffed out her fire attack and walked out the exit. An air car was landing in the street in front of the building. Pallas walked up just as Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn were exiting the craft.

"Pallas, what's going on?" Sailor Moon demanded. "We just saw a winged horse fly two people out of here. Was that Vesta?"

"Yes, Princess," Pallas said contritely. "Vesta had to take her friend and her friend's little baby to the doctor because her friend's little baby was very sick."

"What about in there?" Sailor Moon asked, pointing to the building.

"Nobody's in there now," Pallas answered. "Princess, may Pallas please tell you what happened on the way to the doctor? She wants to see if she can help Vesta's friend's little baby."

"Yeah. OK," nodded Sailor Moon. They returned inside the air car. "Whatever the nearest hospital east of here is, Juno."

"Plotting course," Juno replied. The craft lifted off and headed into the night.

At the hospital, Vesta waited outside of the emergency room door while a medical team worked on little Jaime. The hallway was choked with fear and apprehension, each person thinking the worst, fearing the worst, but unwilling to voice the thought for fear they would bring it to pass.

"Please, Jesus, please," Sancha murmured to herself while Martin and Vesta lingered nearby. "Please help my baby. Please don't take him from me."

"Sancha, if he," Vesta began, "if your little Jaime - - well, I'll get Marcelino for this. I'll hunt him down myself. I'll . . ."

"Just stay out of it!" snapped Martin. "The only reason my son is in there is because we got dragged into your war with Acosta!"

Vesta looked at Martin in shock and anger.

"If my son dies, I'LL hunt down Acosta!" Martin fumed. "YOU stay out of it!"

"Martin," Sancha said. "Don't blame Vanessa for this. She didn't want this. She didn't want any of it. Blame Acosta. He started it all."

Martin looked away. Vesta touched Sancha's arm.

"IF I could do anything more, I would," Vesta said. "This shouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have happened if I had just done Marcelino six years ago."

"Acosta is just a symptom of where we live, Vanessa," Sancha said dully. "Even if you had killed Acosta six years ago, someone else would have replaced him. It's the nature of The Bottoms. We all take a risk just stepping out of our door each day."

An eerie silence draped over the area. Vesta stared uncomprehendingly.

"How do you do that?" Vesta asked.

"See the big picture?" Sancha asked back. "I had to. You never could."

Everybody looked up and saw Sailor Moon and the Asteroid Senshi approaching. They all gathered around Vesta, Sancha and Martin. Sancha looked up at the senshi, visibly awed.

"How's the child?" Sailor Moon asked. Vesta shrugged helplessly.

"Vanessa, is that the big shot Princess you work for?" Sancha asked.

"Yeah," Vesta replied. "Princess Usagi, this is my friend Sancha and her husband Martin."

"Pleased to meet you," Sailor Moon smiled, grasping Sancha's hand.

"Wow," Sancha exclaimed. "You're so impressive."

"I'm sure you're just as impressive under better circumstances," Sailor Moon told her. Just then, the doctor emerged from the exam room and came up to Sancha and Martin. He was of Portuguese and Incan descent, in his fifties with a pencil mustache.

"How is he?" whimpered Sancha.

"The child will live," the doctor told her cautiously. "We don't know the extent of damage the drug may have done to the child's neural receptors. There's a potential for paralysis or brain damage." An audible gasp went up through the assembled. "And given the nature of the drug administered, the child will have to undergo addiction diversion treatments. It's a common procedure for babies of Caina addicts. We're - - optimistic about its success."

Sancha folded onto Martin's chest and began weeping.

"That poor little kid," Ceres whispered, haunted by what she heard.

"Doctor," Sailor Moon said, leaning forward. "May we go in?"

"The child's condition is too delicate for visitors," cautioned the doctor.

"Doctor, we have," Sailor Moon persisted, "certain abilities that can sometimes succeed where science and technology fails. I'd like to try to help."

At first he wanted to say 'no'. But there was something in the way this statuesque, pink-haired foreigner looked at him that suddenly made it impossible for him to say it.

"I want to be on hand," he said as firmly as he could manage. "And it stops the moment I think you're adversely affecting the patient."

"Agreed," nodded Sailor Moon.

The doctor, Sailor Moon, her five senshi, and Jaime's parents all crowded into the small examination room, Sailor Moon having to turn sideways to enter because the doorway wouldn't accommodate her wings. Inside, Sancha gasped audibly. Jaime was in the bed, medical scanners displaying his every frail life sign, while intravenous feeds pumped chemicals into him to keep him alive. The boy looked so fragile.

"Let's do this," Sailor Moon said resolutely. She turned to her best friend and extended her hand. "Saturn?"

Saturn clasped Sailor Moon's hand without hesitation. As Sailor Moon summoned the Moon Tier, the two senshi began to glow. Sailor Moon's aura was pink, while Saturn's was closer to purple. As their auras flared, the pair took on a different expression. There was a giddy nature to their expressions. It was their power, joining and multiplying, but it was more. Their spirits were touching and the strength and intimacy of two inseparable friends was fanning their power to new heights. Sailor Moon brought the Moon Tier over Jaime and just its presence seemed to strengthen his vital signs.

"Silver Moon," Sailor Moon sighed happily, "Crystal Power Kiss." Saturn sighed as well. Pink energy flecked with violet blanketed the young child. Immediately he began to breathe easier. The doctor leaned in and examined the sensor telemetry, then began pulling up scans on his computer station.

"U-Unbelievable," the doctor exclaimed softly. "Neural receptors are repairing. Brain chemistry is balancing out." He looked up. "How did you do that? This doesn't happen in real life."

"You mean Jaime's going to be all right?" Sancha asked amid her tears.

"Well," the doctor began, dumbfounded. "We won't know for certain until the child begins learning to speak and walk. But," and he paused to try to convince himself it had happened, "well, the prognosis is a lot better than it was a minute ago. Significantly better."

With that, Sancha lunged for Sailor Moon. She caught the senshi around the waist, falling to her knees in the process and hugged her as tight as she could. Sancha began crying all over again, her face pressed to Sailor Moon's abdomen. Sailor Moon turned to Saturn and beamed her friend a smile.

"Kind of makes everything all worthwhile, doesn't it?" Saturn asked.

"This is one of the reasons I became Sailor Moon," the Princess replied.

The doctor moved to Martin, who was tenderly caressing his son.

"You and your wife look like you've been through a lot, too," he said to Martin. "You both should get some treatment also."

"It can wait," Martin replied, his eyes fixed on his son.

While everybody else was fixed on the baby, on Sailor Moon and on the parents of little Jaime, Pallas looked around and noticed Vesta was gone. Surreptitiously she eased out the door and into the hall. Vesta was leaned up against a wall, staring at nothing in particular. Pallas walked over to her.

"The little baby is going to be just fine, Vesta," Pallas told her sister. "The Princess and Miss Saturn-Ma'am made him all better."

"Yeah," Vesta exhaled. "Good thing. But Marcelino got away. He's still out there. That means they're not safe. Nobody who's close to me is safe as long as he's still gunning for me. I got to run this guy down before somebody gets hurt so bad that even the Princess can't help them."

Pallas looked on sympathetically. She could sense the rage coming from her sister, but also a budding sense of guilt. Suddenly her eyes widened in shock.

"But Vesta," Pallas said anxiously, "Queen Serenity says killing is wrong."

"Maybe," Vesta shot back, not looking at Pallas for she knew Pallas had read her mind again. "But I don't know any other way out of this? Do you? Because this has to end."

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. The Circle Of Retribution

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 10: "The Circle Of Retribution"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Ves glanced out the window of the hospital room onto the street below. It was a typical evening in Sao Paulo, with the working class going to and from their jobs, the upper class going to and from their various means of entertainment, and the impoverished class trying to survive another day. All the view did was remind her of why she was glad she lived in Crystal Tokyo, despite the charms Sao Paulo still held for her. Turning away, Ves refocused on her friend, Sancha.

Sancha was being held overnight for observation. There were no apparent long term injuries, but she had endured a traumatic experience and the precaution was deemed best. Due to hospital rules and logistics, Martin was in another room and Jaime was in the children's ward. Ves could see it bothered Sancha, but she didn't protest.

"Vanessa," Sancha began, delicately stroking an intravenous tube up and down. "I don't know how I'm going to afford this room. And Jaime's care."

"Don't worry about it," Ves replied. She was using that bold, self-assured tone she'd always used to calm Sancha's fears when they were younger and in over their heads. "I'll take care of your bill."

"You? You strike it rich or something?"

"The Palace gives us a living allowance," Ves replied. "I don't use it much. Not like Cere. I'm used to doing without, so there's not a lot I really want. I can eat for free at the palace. And I'm not exactly the fashion plate."

"You never were the fashion plate," chuckled Sancha.

"So I've told the hospital to send the bill to me and I'll pay it."

"Vanessa," Sancha gasped. "That's . . .!"

"It's the least I could do. After all," and Ves looked down, chagrined, "you're here because of me. Marcelino came after you because he knew you were my friend. He knew he could get to me through you."

"Then that makes it his fault, doesn't it?" Sancha stated. Ves whipped her head up and stared menacingly at her friend. "Save your guilt trip, huh, Vanessa. Marcelino was always out for number one. He never cared about the law and he never cared about who he hurt."

"There was a time when we were like that," Ves cautioned her.

"Yeah, but we had something Marcelino never had: We had each other. And we had Rudolfo. We were - - not family, but a support system. We always had someone. We always leaned on each other, helped each other, looked out for each other. Nobody ever looked out for Marcelino. He was the runt - - the odd man out, and it made him bitter and angry. You found your sisters and your Princess and you found something to give your life direction. I found Martin. Marcelino never found anything except a way to profit off of other people's pain."

"I guess," Ves replied. Sancha could tell she was still feeling guilty.

"Are you and your sailors going after him?"

"Got to," Ves said resolutely. "As long as he's out there, you're not safe. Nobody close to me is safe." Ves seemed to silently consider something. "You know, the Queen of Crystal Tokyo is always saying how vengeance never solves anything - - it just keeps the circle going, you know? The circle of violence." Ves grew silent. "I never understood what she was talking about until now. But if I hadn't gone to that lab that night - - if I hadn't blinded Marcelino, just out of revenge for what he did to Rudolfo . . ."

"It's the past, Vanessa," Sancha told her. "What did you always say about the past?"

Ves smiled nostalgically. "The past never filled an empty stomach."

"Go get him, Vanessa," Sancha said. "But don't get yourself killed doing it. He's not worth it."

Ves nodded and headed for the door.

"Vanessa!" Sancha said suddenly. Ves turned back. "Thank your Princess for me - - for curing Jaime. She is pretty impressive."

"She's all right," Ves grinned and exited the hospital room.

Out in the hall, she found Usa and the others.

"You guys still here?" Ves asked.

"Just waiting for you," Jun smirked. Palla-Palla beamed at her with child-like innocence.

In the air car on the way to the hotel, Ves sat pensively. Everybody sensed her frustration at Acosta escaping.

"Do you think there's anything on those files you downloaded that can help us find Acosta?" Hotaru asked, one eye on Ves.

"Maybe," Usa replied. "Maybe the only thing we'll find is enough evidence to put him away for twelve hundred years once we catch him. We'll have to wait and see."

"How long will it take for you to decipher it?" Cere asked.

"By myself? Days," Usa responded. Then she smirked. "That's why I streamed a copy to Pop back home. He's going to put his computer to work on it, and he's also got a half-dozen of the best cryptographers in Crystal Tokyo working on it. They should have the whole thing deciphered by morning our time."

At the hotel, everybody disembarked from the air car and headed up to their floor. The senshi broke up and headed to their rooms. Ves started to leave, but stopped when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Ves," Usa said in a voice only Ves could hear. "We need to talk about a few things."

Ves knew this routine. It was the old "following rules" speech that she'd heard since she was six years old and first got into trouble in elementary school for fighting. Her initial urge was to tune out and become defiant if the Princess pressed the issue. But she thought better of it. As she followed Usa to the end of the hall, Ves remembered how Usa had helped Sancha's son, unbidden and out of the kindness of her heart. She remembered all the nice things she'd done over their years together and all of the times she'd taken up for her when Sensei Hino had wanted to give Ves the boot. Ves realized she owed Usa, that Usa had earned her loyalty and consideration.

"I thought we were a team," Usa put to her when they reached the end of the hall and could see no one else was listening.

"I had to face Marcelino alone," Ves piped up quickly. "If we'd gone in there in force, he would have killed Sancha and her family."

"But you took Pallas?"

"Pallas read my mind and knew what I was going to do," Ves explained. She characteristically wouldn't make eye contact with Usa. "I didn't have a choice."

"Lucky for you she was along," Usa judged.

"Yeah," Ves agreed. "Look, I wasn't disrespecting you or the team. It's just that I know Marcelino. I know what he's capable of. I knew it was a big risk, but I thought it was the safest way to go."

"Well you made a judgment call and I'm not going to slam you for it," Usa told her. "It's just that if one or more of us had been outside that building, keeping the place under surveillance while you made your play, we might have been able to catch Acosta when he fled - - and this would be over."

Ves ground her teeth. She wanted to argue, but Usa was right. Her lone wolf act had let Marcelino get away.

"Now," Usa continued, "about what happened in that produce warehouse."

Ves's head snapped up. She locked eyes with Usa, fearing what was coming next.

"You killed that one cyborg, didn't you?" Usa asked. There was no judgment in her voice, but Ves could tell she already knew the answer.

"It was him or me," Ves maintained. "We were in a fight to the death."

"OK," Usa nodded. "Unlike Mom, I understand that there are times when you have to kill someone to survive so you can perform a greater good. I don't like that fact, but I know some people just don't give you any other choice. If you make a judgment call that it's him or you, I'm down with it. I trust your judgment in these things."

Usa gripped Ves by the upper arm for emphasis.

"I just want to ask one thing of you, and please take this seriously: Don't let killing become the easy answer. The minute killing becomes a first response and not a last resort for you, you're off this team. Please don't let that happen, because we all need you."

"I understand," Ves said.

And Usa was gratified by the undertone of respect in Ves's voice. It wasn't something she heard very often from her.

* * *

A hover car pulled over to the side of a Sao Paulo street, in front of a tired ethnic Incan restaurant that had seen better days. The driver, a looming, broad-shouldered man with a dark, thin overcoat and dark glasses reached over to the control panel and engaged the video communicator that had been signaling him. The screen came to life and displayed the face of his current employer, Marcelino Acosta. From what little that could be seen behind Acosta, he was in one of the three safe houses he kept in different parts of the city. From the look of the decor, it was the one on Pacquan Street. It was a good choice: Close enough to both the Downtown district and The Bottoms to strike at both, and near enough to the private air field in the city where Acosta kept his short range air ship.

"Rosales," Acosta said, even though he could see the man through the communicator's two-way video stream. This was a bad sign to the man in the dark glasses. "Where are you?"

"Santa Rita Boulevard," the man commented calmly. "Near the Plaza."

"I have a job for you," Acosta told him - - practically ordered him. The man let it slide because Acosta paid and paid well until now, but it was another bad sign. "I need some people taken care of."

"Who?" he asked. The printer beneath the video terminal fired up and transmitted five pictures. He glanced at them. "This is that Japanese Princess and her crew. The ones with that woman you were after. Did you miss again?"

"Don't talk to me like that," Acosta snarled menacingly. "I want them put down. Then Vanessa won't have anyone to back her up. Once I've isolated her, I can deal with her once and for all."

"It's about time you started thinking and stopped dealing with these amateurs," he replied. "Just because somebody gets some mechanical limb sewn on his body, doesn't make him a pro. I've never needed cybernetics. Just a laser with a sight I can trust."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard this before," grunted Acosta. "They're staying at the Grande. Take them out quick and clean. But leave Vanessa for me. Your usual price."

"For five?"

Acosta ground his teeth. "Each."

"You good for it?" he asked.

"Of course I am!"

"Because you've been taking a lot of losses recently," the man in the dark glasses continued. "I warned you about this whole vengeance kick. If you're not careful, you end up losing more than you gain."

"If I want a sermon, I'll look up Padre Iglesias," Acosta snapped. "Just do the job."

"As long as you're paying," he commented. Acosta terminated the communication. The man reached under his coat and brought out a 2987 Rombauer 12mm laser pistol with a computer enhanced sight. He checked the power pack to see if it was fully charged, then replaced it in the holster under his coat. Engaging the hover car, he pulled out into traffic.

Off to work.

* * *

Stretching as she walked from her bed to the bathroom, Usa glanced with a bleary eye at Hotaru in the other bed. Hotaru was just waking up.

"Morning, Hotaru," Usa said with a lazy smile.

Hotaru returned her smile at first. Then the girl grew embarrassed and looked away. Instantly Usa realized why. The Princess was wearing a very sheer, very sexy nighty over her very womanly body and Hotaru was still very self-conscious about the vast difference between what nature had endowed them both with.

"Good morning, Usa," Hotaru mumbled. As Usa made the bathroom, she made a mental note to try to find something less overtly sexy for when she traveled with Hotaru and save this little number for Helios.

"Do you want to go down to the restaurant and have breakfast?" Usa called out to her roommate. "Or maybe see if we can find something close by? I don't want to call room service. I've been cooped up in here enough."

"The restaurant will be fine," Hotaru replied. "We should be concentrating on finding Acosta and not sight-seeing."

"True," Usa answered. "Hey, Hotaru. Check my PDA and see if Pop sent anything on those files."

Complying, Hotaru climbed out of bed. Still in her conservative pastel blue pajamas, she went over to the night stand next to her friend's bed and examined the PDA.

"There's a message," Hotaru relayed.

After a quick shower, Usa came out. While Hotaru retired to the bathroom, Usa sat on the edge of her bed and skimmed the file her father had sent her. It was so engrossing that she was still reading when Hotaru emerged from the bathroom.

"Hotaru, this is great!" exclaimed Usa. "There's enough on these files to put Acosta away for forever!"

"Really?" Hotaru asked, avoiding looking at Usa.

"Yeah, production schedules, locations, clients and middle men, income figures, everything! Acosta was very organized. And very paranoid about not getting his cut of sales. There are also records of doctors who performed illegal prosthetic enhancement surgery on his men. There's so much here that anybody would convict him."

"Now all we have to do is find him," added Hotaru.

"Yeah," Usa deflated. "Unfortunately there's nothing on here about any safe houses or properties not used for drug production."

"Uh, Usa," Hotaru began uncomfortably, "could you get dressed please?"

"Huh?" Usa asked. Then she realized she was still in her nightie. "Oh! Sorry."

Out in the hall, Usa and Hotaru waited while the hotel room's environmental computer paged its occupants. Jun answered the door.

"We were going to go downstairs and have breakfast in the restaurant," Usa said. "Want to join us?"

"Sure," Jun grinned. "We were going to suggest the same thing."

She and Cere joined them in the hall. The four headed for the third room, but before they could reach the door, Palla-Palla came out to meet them.

"Palla-Palla heard you with her head," she said, in answer to the girls' unspoken question.

"Where's Ves?" Jun asked.

"Ves-Ves is still sleeping," Palla-Palla explained. "She's very tired. She didn't even wake up when Palla-Palla got out of bed."

"She IS tired," commented Cere. "Usually she's like a cat when she's sleeping."

"Ves has been through a lot," Usa assessed. "Let's let her sleep in. She could use it. I'll leave a message with the environmental control computer so she'll know where we are if she wakes up and wants to join us."

"Palla-Palla wants to have Sugar Bombs for breakfast," Palla-Palla announced as the five headed for the lift.

"There's a huge surprise," Cere scowled.

In the restaurant, Usa informed the others of what her father had sent her. While Palla-Palla inhaled her morning frosted cereal, the others listened with keen interest.

"It's too bad there wasn't anything that might lead us to where Acosta is," Jun mused. "Unless maybe he's hiding at one of those production facilities?"

"It's a possibility," Usa said. "Not a likely one, but I suppose we should check."

"I don't suppose we could just turn all of this over to the police and let them handle it?" Cere proposed.

"The longer Acosta is free, the more anyone connected with Ves is in danger," Usa argued.

"And the longer Ves is going to obsess with tracking him down," Jun added. "She won't leave it until he's caught and she's not going to trust the police to do it."

"Yeah, that's true," sighed Cere. "Ves and the police have never exactly gotten along. So how DO we track him down?"

"Wait for Ves," Usa concluded as she nibbled on some toast. "Ves knows him. She's going to know more than any of us where to look. Our job is to stick with her so she doesn't have to face him alone and make sure he doesn't get away."

Suddenly Palla-Palla stopped eating. Everyone noticed immediately. She was staring past them and everyone followed her line of sight. They all locked onto a tall, broad-shouldered rough-looking man in a long black overcoat and dark glasses. He was the picture of "did not belong" in the fancy hotel restaurant.

And that was before he drew the laser pistol.

"GUN!" shouted Jun. Three henshin sticks appeared in the hands of Jun, Cere and Hotaru, while Usa's hand flung into the air to transform. The other patrons in the restaurant began to shout in alarm. Chaos was just beginning to explode through the room.

The gun fired five times, cooly and expertly. Each one at the table was struck by the high intensity laser pulse before she could transform. Blood spattered all over the breakfast table as the five visitors from Crystal Tokyo fell.

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. Find Acosta

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 11: "Find Acosta"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Luna walked into the Royal Chambers to check on Queen Serenity. After spending part of the day listening to her try not to fret about her daughter being half a world away, the cat had finally convinced her to paint to take her mind off of things. Peeking in on her, she found the Queen at her easel, hard at work on something. Scampering over to the antique bureau behind the Queen, Luna leaped up onto it and peeked over the Queen's shoulder to see what she was painting.

It was a portrait of the Princess.

"Really, Your Majesty?" sighed the black cat.

"Oh, go catch a mouse," Serenity scowled as she dabbed pink onto the portrait.

"Whatever for?" Luna recoiled.

"This was your idea," the Queen told her as she stroked with the brush.

"And leave it to you to make me regret it," fussed the cat. "Although I must say, it is a nice likeness. What did you plan to do with it once you've finished: Present it to the Princess, or put it on your night stand and pine?"

"You're going to look awfully silly when I paint over your crescent moon in pink," Serenity said, her mouth twisted in a pout.

"Some decorum actually befitting your station, Your . . ." Luna began.

She stopped when Serenity's brush clattered to the floor. Luna looked at the Queen and saw an expression of utter shock and horror. Instantly Serenity sprang from her chair, the paints and canvas forgotten, and raced out the door, the black cat in hot pursuit. Racing to keep up, Luna saw that Serenity was headed for the King's computer room. At once, Endymion emerged from the room and met Serenity half way down the hall. He gripped her by the upper arms.

"Endymion!" Serenity cried frantically.

"I felt it, too!" he answered, just as frantic.

Instantly their auras flared, hers silver and his gold. And in the blink of an eye, the King and Queen were gone, leaving Luna standing alone in the corridor.

"Oh dear," swallowed the cat. Then she turned and ran back down the corridor, shouting, "ARTEMIS!"

As if the scene in the restaurant wasn't chaotic enough, with five women laying on a table or the floor bleeding and unconscious, the scene was disturbed further when a tall man with black hair and a shorter woman with long blonde hair trailing from round gathers suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They were clearly Asian and completely out of place in the South American restaurant. The woman broke from the man even as police and medical rescue teams were pulling up and ran for the fallen women. The man started to as well, then stopped when he spotted one of the on-lookers. He came up to the woman, a youth barely eighteen with crimson hair piled on top of her head like a mountain and held by three gold rings.

"Ves, what happened?" Endymion demanded. Ves seemed in shock. It took a moment for his question to register in her brain. She looked up at him in confusion.

"I-I don't know," she mumbled numbly. "I was upstairs - - slept in. I heard Palla-Palla call me."

"A man came in," one of the wait staff said. Endymion's computer translator engaged so he could understand the man's Portuguese. "He shot them. He just stood there and shot them!"

"What did he look like?" Ves rumbled. Endymion could see the girl's temper rising.

"Tall, dark," the waiter said. "He had on dark glasses and a long black coat. Very rough looking."

"ENDYMION!" Serenity shouted.

Endymion was at her side in a flash. She was on her knees next to the unconscious body of his daughter, a charred, ugly wound in her upper right chest that was oozing blood. His doctor instincts kicked in and he could see that the angle of the shot had missed any organs and the amount of blood oozing indicated that none of the major arteries had been hit. Serenity stuck out her hand. He took it instantly. Their auras flared.

Out of nowhere, Ami Mizuno appeared. She was dressed casually and had her glasses perched on her nose and a book in her lap. After a moment's disorientation, Ami gathered the situation and came over to them. Ves watched as she and Endymion gave all five victims cursory triage. By now emergency medical personnel were there and assisting.

"It's a miracle," Ami judged. "None of these wounds are life-threatening."

"That's pretty odd," Endymion replied and the others looked at him. "For a professional hit, this guy was a pretty bad shot."

"Someone did this on purpose?" wailed Serenity.

"From what Ves described, I'd say so," Endymion told her.

"Nevertheless, these wounds need to be tended to immediately," Ami interjected.

Instantly Serenity grasped Endymion's hand. She, her husband, Ami and the five victims all flashed out of the room in a burst of silver light, leaving Ves and the other patrons to stare in wonder. As everyone milled about and conversed in amazement among themselves, none of them noticed Ves's jaw tighten. A police officer came up to her.

"Were you a witness to this?" he asked. "I'll need a statement."

"I'm busy!" snarled Ves and started for the door.

When the officer tried to restrain her, Ves shoved him to the floor. Her henshin stick was out immediately. After a shouted transformation phrase, the officer found himself staring at Sailor Vesta.

"Fauna assimilation, Condor!" she roared. Transforming into a condor, Vesta was in the air and out the door before anyone could stop her. Free of the hotel, Vesta soared up into the air and away, headed toward the abandoned lab where all of this had started.

Landing on the roof, Vesta peered down through the hole Pallas had made. The building was dark. Nothing seemed to be there but the debris of her last encounter with Marcelino Acosta. Satisfied that it was safe, Vesta hopped through the hole and used her wings to make a soft landing on the tile floor.

Immediately she transformed into a bloodhound. Pressing her nose to the floor, Vesta began sniffing around. There were several scents to sift through. Instantly she recognized Sancha, Pallas and her own. There were other scents, probably of the cyborgs helping Acosta. Vesta pressed on.

Suddenly it was there: Acosta's scent. She recognized it from being in his presence in her other animal forms, but now it was clear and bold to her senses. Vesta followed it over to the wall and through the back door. It led out into the service alley behind the building, then disappeared. Vesta kept sniffing the ground, but couldn't come up with it again.

"There's something here, though," Vesta thought. "Residue of something mechanical. Yeah, a hover car! It's the ozone smell hover cars leave when their superconductor tech interacts with the atmosphere! He got into a hover car!"

Trailing the smell, Vesta got to the end of the alley and looked down the cross street. Hover cars filled the street in both directions. As a bloodhound, there was no way she could follow the scent through this traffic.

* * *

Things were just now settling down at Saint Joseph's Memorial Hospital in Sao Paulo. When Serenity materialized everyone into the hospital emergency room, it naturally caused a stir. Usa was taken into an exam room, accompanied by Serenity and Endymion, while Ami and the doctors on duty tended to the senshi on Gurneys in the corridor. All of the other exam rooms were occupied at the time with other cases. Of the five, Hotaru and Palla-Palla seemed to be the worse off. Due to Hotaru's history of heart problems, she was taken into another exam room so a cardiac sensor module could be used. Ami leaned over Palla-Palla, using a sterile sensor probe to examine the wound while holographic telemetry hovered above her. She was still astounded that the wound was in the exact place that would cause minimal thoracic damage.

"Palla-Palla told him to miss," Palla-Palla mumbled. Ami realized she had read the question in her mind.

"Telepathically?" Ami asked as she glanced at the telemetry.

"Yes, Ma'am," Palla-Palla said softly. "Palla-Palla heard what he was going to do. And all she could think to do," and she took a shuddering breath, "was to tell him with her head not to kill us."

"It sounds like you implanted the thought into his mind telepathically," Ami told her. "This is going to sting, but it will go away quickly."

Palla-Palla grunted softly, but didn't cry out. Ami put the sterilizing probe down and reached for a cellular growth accelerator to prod the musculature around the bones to knit.

"Is everyone OK?" Palla-Palla asked weakly.

"They all have wounds much like yours," Ami informed her. "But none of them are going to die. Your quick thinking saved them all, Palla-Palla."

"What about Ves-Ves?" Palla-Palla asked. "Is she mad?"

"Why don't you go to sleep for a while and let your body heal," Ami advised her.

"Because," Palla-Palla persisted, her anxiety rising, "Ves-Ves does bad things when she's mad."

To help her, Ami administered a mild sedative to the girl. At that moment, there was a flash of silver from the exam room the Princess was in. Ami smiled to herself. "You just won't let medical science do its work, will you."

Inside the exam room, Usa pushed herself to a sitting position. She glanced at her chest. There was no evidence the wound had ever been there.

"How do you feel, Honey?" Serenity asked with a trembling voice.

"Better now, Mom," Usa sighed. She was still fatigued from the whole ordeal. "How are the others?"

"Not in any immediate danger," Endymion related.

"I blew it again," frowned the Princess.

"How so?" Endymion asked.

"You told me to keep my eyes open, Pop," Usa replied, chastened. "I let my guard down. I didn't think this Acosta guy would actually take a shot at us in the middle of a crowded restaurant. I almost got everyone killed."

"Honey," her father said, reaching over and cupping his hand behind her neck, "anyone who expects to be attacked at any moment in a place where there is no visible, logical threat is a raving paranoid. You can't blame yourself for not anticipating something that can't logically be anticipated."

"You don't know this Acosta guy," Usa argued.

"I was looking over that file you send me to decrypt. He's clearly a rough customer. But someone who would try this is either inhumanly bold or incredibly desperate. And you can't anticipate the actions of someone like that."

"Yes, Usa, please don't blame yourself for this!" Serenity exclaimed. She grabbed her daughter and pulled the girl's head to her chest. The Princess struggled for a moment to try to escape, then saw the futility of it and gave in.

* * *

Hover cars careened wildly to avoid the monstrosity barreling down the street. Using her Fauna Combination powers, Sailor Vesta had transformed into a bloodhound roughly the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Commuters lurched to get out of the way and any craft that didn't either glanced off of the canine's huge legs or was crushed underfoot.

Vesta's course had taken her out of the Downtown District. From the looks of it, she was headed for the residential northwest side, an upper scale neighborhood near the private airport. As she reached Pacquan Street, the scent turned to the left. Vesta kept following it, oblivious to the attention she was attracting.

The trail turned into a driveway leading to a three-story townhouse. It was well-apportioned, but very quiet. Vesta followed the scent of the hover car up to a connected garage. There she transformed into a cockroach and wriggled under the door.

"Bingo," Vesta thought as she looked up at the parked hover car. "Must be one of his safe houses."

Scurrying across the floor, Vesta wriggled under the door and moved across the connecting hall to the door to the townhouse. Entering the home, Vesta used her antennae to determine that the room was empty. Only then did she revert to Sailor Vesta. After becoming human again, Vesta spotted the surveillance camera. Immediately she transformed into a house fly. She headed for the next room, the one where sounds from a video stream were coming from.

"If Marcelino is here, that camera probably alerted him that I'm here," Vesta thought as she landed on the ceiling and looked around. "I got to be more careful! I can't let him get away again!"

A pulse of laser light lanced out and struck the ceiling where Vesta had been. Only thanks to the superior reflexes she had as a house fly, Vesta avoided it. A second pulse tracked her as she flew. Arcing in flight, Vesta spotted Acosta. He was sitting on a sofa, a laser pistol in his hand and a security monitor by his side. He was using the prosthetic visor that gave him back his vision to track her. She remembered from their last encounter that it contained some sort of infra-red or motion sensor software that allowed him to do that. Vesta ducked under a third pulse and headed for him. As she dived, Vesta transformed again, this time into a full grown Bengal tiger. She snarled as her teeth bared, seeking his throat.

And at the last moment, Acosta brought up a metal bar in his other hand and swung it like a club. He caught Vesta with it, mostly on the neck, but enough on the head that the force altered her course and sent her crashing into a table. The table broke under the impact. Acosta flinched back to avoid flying debris as Vesta struggled to her feet. He brought the pistol to bear, but Vesta snapped at it and he flinched back. Scrambling to his feet, Acosta pointed the pistol at the crouching tiger before him. Vesta kept stalking him, moving relentlessly toward him, her cold yellow eyes fixed on him. She could see the gun tremble in his hand, for even though he knew the tiger was really Vesta, it was still an unnerving sight to be this close to this much naked feline predator.

"Stay where you are!" demanded Acosta. "I will shoot you between the eyes!"

"Like you did my friends?" bellowed the tiger, and that was as unnerving as anything else, because the tiger bellowed in the voice of his old nemesis Vanessa. "You don't have any cyborgs or hired guns to do your dirty work now, Marcelino! I don't think you've got the balls to shoot me when I'm looking you in the eye!"

He pulled the trigger. Vesta tried to dodge, but the laser pulse caught her in the shoulder. The force of the pulse slammed Vesta to the floor and the shock of the wound caused her to lose her transformation. Still, Vesta was quick to get back into a defensive position, crouched on one knee.

"THAT MAN ENOUGH FOR YOU, VANESSA!" roared Acosta. "The next one goes right between your eyes!"

"You aren't that good a shot!" sneered Vesta defiantly. Blood dribbled down from a nasty wound in her left arm. She could move it, but it was painful. Still, not moving it was just as painful, so she used the pain to fuel her rage. "And you don't have Sancha to hide behind this time!"

"Stop disrespecting me!" Acosta barked. "I am not the little runt you and Rudolfo beat up on and sneered at! I am king of the drug trade in this end of the city! Me! And I did it without being able to see my hand in front of my face without my prosthetic! And you won't disrespect that!"

He moved closer, the laser pistol trained on Vesta the entire time. Vesta's eyes burned with hatred for him, and it was good because he hated her just as much.

"And now you're going to pay for taking my eyes from me!" Acosta continued venomously. "And who knows - - maybe once you're dead, I'll have your eyes transplanted into my head so I can get rid of this damn visor forever. Yeah, that's a good idea. The final slap in the face."

Vesta just glared at him.

"No smart-ass remarks?" Acosta demanded. "No defiance? Are you finally scared, Vanessa?"

"Just remembering the look on Rudolfo's face when he died," Vesta replied in a low, guttural growl. "And the look of terror on Sancha's face when she found out you'd given her son Caina. And the look on Palla-Palla's face, laying there in a puddle of her own blood." Her teeth clenched. "Just so I don't lose my nerve."

And Vesta sprang at Acosta, her hands out and clutching for him. Acosta squeezed the trigger on the laser pistol. It fired off a pulse of deadly light.

Concluded in Chapter 12


	12. Justice Or Vengeance

An Eye For An Eye  
Chapter 12: "Justice Or Vengeance"  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"No smart-ass remarks?" Acosta demanded. "No defiance? Are you finally scared, Vanessa?"

"Just remembering the look on Rudolfo's face when he died," Vesta replied in a low, guttural growl. "And the look of terror on Sancha's face when she found out you'd given her son Caina. And the look on Palla-Palla's face, laying there in a puddle of her own blood." Her teeth clenched. "Just so I don't lose my nerve."

And Vesta sprang at Acosta, her hands out and clutching for him. Acosta squeezed the trigger on the laser pistol. It fired off a pulse of deadly light.

The pulse struck Vesta on her side, under her left breast. The pulse pierced the skin and vaporized part of her fourth rib. It also grazed part of the pleura. Pain shot through Vesta, but her adrenal rush spurred by her rage allowed her to shake it off. She impacted with Acosta and her momentum drove them both back into the sofa. Sprawling awkwardly, Acosta fired again and struck the ceiling. On top of him, Vesta's hands went for his face.

Clawing like an animal, Vesta raked and gouged at Acosta's face. Only the gloves of her Sailor uniform spared him more damage. Acosta tried to bring the laser pistol to bear again. He pressed the pistol into her side and fired another pulse. Laser light burned through her side, striking and damaging her left kidney. Vesta howled in agony, then plunged her teeth into Acosta's shoulder. Unnerved, the drug dealer tried to throw Vesta off of him. All the while, her hands continued to rake at his face.

Then she caught hold of his visor. Locking her fingers around it, Vesta pulled down. The visor resisted, held by the two input plugs inserted into the terminals just behind Acosta's ears. This only further enraged Vesta and she pulled harder. Finally the material of the visor couldn't hold any longer. It gave way in her hands, taking part of the input terminals with it. Acosta shrieked in agony and, with a sudden surge of desperate adrenalin, shoved Vesta off of him. She landed on the floor, sending pieces of the coffee table skidding, and spun to a crouch. Acosta had his hands cupped over the damaged input terminals behind his ears. The laser pistol lay on a sofa cushion next to him.

"YOU ANIMAL!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" After the initial pain and shock subsided, Acosta came to a sudden realization. "I'm blind! I'M BLIND AGAIN!"

Vesta forgotten, Acosta began feeling around with his hands for his visor. When he couldn't locate it, the man grew more and more desperate. Frantically he felt for the visor, which was still in Vesta's right hand. He slid awkwardly from the sofa, patting the floor in search of his visor, the only thing that could possibly restore his vision.

Without the visor, Vesta could see the results of what she had done six years ago. Acosta's real eyes were a milky white with streaks of blue and brown through them. There was no iris, no pupil, nothing but a sea of non-functional white. Seeing this in anyone else might have made her turn away in disgust or sympathetic pain. But seeing Acosta suffering this condition left her unmoved.

"Where is it?" Acosta snarled in frustration. His hands kept patting along the floor. "DAMN IT, WHERE IS IT?"

"You looking for this?" Vesta said. She brought the visor within a foot of his blind eyes, then grasped it between her two hands and snapped it in half.

"YOU...!" roared Acosta. "You think this is over? You think you've won? THIS ISN'T OVER, VANESSA! THIS ISN'T OVER BY A LONG SHOT!"

Vesta stared down at him in contempt.

"I AM GOING TO SEE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS!" he bellowed impotently. "YOU WON'T BE SAFE FROM ME! NOT IN JAPAN! NOT ANYWHERE! I'LL SEE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS! YOU'LL BEG ME TO KILL YOU! YOU'LL SUFFER! YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER! EVERYBODY WHO HAS EVER KNOWN YOU WILL SUFFER!"

As she stared down at him, Vesta knew he wasn't just making idle threats. Acosta was just angry enough and just cruel enough to see it through. She thought of Rudolfo, expiring as she held his hand in the dingy bedroom of the loft they shared. She thought of Sancha silently begging Vesta to save her from the cruelties he'd inflicted on her for no other crime than being Vesta's friend. She thought of Palla-Palla and the others, shot and bleeding as they sat to breakfast, their station as royalty and senshi not enough to save them from him.

"YOU AND EVERYBODY WHO'S EVER KNOWN YOU WILL NOT KNOW A MOMENT'S PEACE FROM ME!"

He'd do it. Without a second thought, he'd do it. Sancha, Palla-Palla - - no one would ever be truly safe from him.

Acosta stopped ranting and turned his head when he heard Vesta step toward the sofa. He listened intently. Then he felt the laser pistol press to his head.

And a moment later, he no longer felt anything.

"You just couldn't let it go," Vesta said, emotion making her voice hoarse, "could you? Everything you've done to me, and it still wasn't enough. Well everybody's safe from you now."

Vesta sat down on the sofa because her wounds forced her to. The laser pistol dangled from her hand, which dangled limply at her side. A wave of chills ran through her body. She glanced at the wounds on her left side. They were ugly and would need attention.

Maybe she could share a hospital room with Palla-Palla - - if she made it that far.

An instinct more than anything warned her of movement from the kitchen down the hall. Vesta snapped the laser pistol up and leveled it at where she perceived the movement to be. Emerging from the room into the hall was a tall, dark, broad-shouldered man. He was rough looking and wore dark glasses and a long dark coat.

"Relax," he said. "I'm not going to make a move on you."

"Who are you?" demanded Vesta.

"A sub-contractor," he smiled. "I was hired to help Acosta flush you out so he could take you down." He glanced at the body. "But it doesn't look like he's going to be paying me anymore, so at the moment I'm - - between jobs."

Vesta looked more closely at the description of the man. Her teeth clenched.

"You're the guy who shot my friends at the restaurant!" snarled Vesta.

She squeezed off a pulse, but her hands were shaking and it went wide. The man grew serious.

"At the moment, nobody's paying me to kill you," he warned. "Don't make this personal."

"Bring it!" barked Vesta.

Then the room began to spin. Vesta felt like she was going to throw up for a moment. Fighting back shock and exhaustion, she brought the pistol back up and looked back at where the man had been standing. But he was gone.

Hearing sirens in the distance, Vesta forced herself to the townhouse exit. Wheezing out her transformation phrase, Vesta transformed into a condor and took flight. She made her way erratically toward St. Joseph's Memorial Hospital.

* * *

"Several severe wounds," Ami explained to King Endymion and Queen Serenity at the hospital. Ves had reverted to her non-senshi form after landing at the hospital emergency room. She had remained conscious through the entire triage and had even refused a sedative while the damage was being repaired. Now she was resting in a room at the hospital. "The wound to her kidney was particularly troubling."

"Maybe I can help with that," Serenity offered.

"Serenity, you already healed the other five," Ami grumbled. "If you continue to push yourself in this manner, you are going to do yourself a permanent injury."

"But I can help her!" Serenity protested.

"So can I," retorted Ami. "It'll just take longer." While Serenity pouted, Ami turned to Ves. "You have some visitors. Do you feel up to seeing them?"

"Is it the cops?" wheezed Ves.

"No, it's Usa," Ami replied, eyeing her in that manner Ami had that made you think she was looking inside you. "Are you expecting the police?"

"Old habit, I guess," Ves replied evasively. "Sure, I'll talk to her."

Ami and the King and Queen exited to arrange for transport back to Crystal Tokyo as Usa entered. She came up to Ves's bed.

"How are you feeling?" Usa asked and there was genuine concern in her face and voice.

"Like I got shot," Ves answered.

"Must have been some fight," Usa commented.

"Did they find him or something?"

"Palla-Palla told me," Usa said. "She had a vision of what happened."

Ves looked down. "Is she mad?"

"I'll let you talk to her," Usa replied.

"Princess, I didn't want to do it. I know I talk big, but," Ves said, then stopped. "It wasn't a first option. He wasn't going to stop."

"It was him or you?" Usa asked.

"It was him or everybody. He wanted me dead and he wouldn't have cared how many other people he had to take out to get to me." Ves took a ragged breath. "Now I get all the drama Jun went through that one time - - and Hotaru, too."

Usa was silent for a moment. Ves got the sudden suspicion that she was about to be left behind in Sao Paulo. It was a more bitter pill than she expected it to be. Well, at least Sancha and Palla-Palla and the others would be safe from him. That was something.

"OK," Usa said finally. "I'll explain it to Mom and Pop." Ves looked up at her, genuinely surprised by the reaction.

"Really?" Ves stammered. "I-I don't get it. I thought you'd be - - after the way you fought to keep from killing those cloud creatures . . ."

"Ves, you did what you thought you had to do to protect other people," Usa explained. "I don't like what you did. It's not what I would have done. It's certainly against Mom's philosophy. But you don't have the power Mom has, or that I'm going to have. That power gives us options in certain situations that you might not have. And you didn't do it out of malice or vengeance; you did it to protect people. I can see that. And you're doing a better job beating yourself up over it than I ever could. So we're still good."

Ves swallowed. It was at that moment that she realized she would walk through fire for this woman. But there was still the police - - and the king and queen.

"Am I going up for this?" Ves asked with a fatal tone.

"As a member of my staff, you have diplomatic immunity," Usa told her. "The worst they can probably do to you is tell you not to enter the country again."

Ves nodded. It didn't seem to be a relief. Usa started to leave.

"Sorry for all of the trouble," Ves said. "If I'm an embarrassment to the team now, I'll go quietly."

"I don't think Palla-Palla would ever forgive me," Usa told her. "Ves, we've all got a past. You can pay me back if Wise Man ever shows up again."

No sooner was Usa out of the room then Palla-Palla peeked in. Ves spotted her and waved her in. But as she approached, Ves could see the girl was upset.

"Sorry if I worried you," Ves apologized. "I'll try to be more careful."

"Ves-Ves," Palla-Palla said, her demeanor grasping for an explanation. "You killed him."

"Yeah," Ves replied, the weight of Palla-Palla's disapproval crushing her. "I didn't do it out of vengeance. The Princess is right. Vengeance doesn't solve anything. I did it to prevent more pain and suffering. He wasn't going to stop hurting people until I was dead - - or he was. I had to do it."

"But Ves-Ves," Palla-Palla squeaked, "Queen Serenity says killing is wrong."

"And she's right. It is," Ves said, struggling to find a way to communicate to Palla-Palla what she felt. For words were never Ves's forte and comprehension wasn't always Palla-Palla's strength. "But sometimes life makes you do it."

Palla-Palla stared at her and Ves could see she didn't understand. Maybe Ves didn't understand herself, really.

"It's like this," Ves continued. "What if you saw a dog attacking this smaller dog. And no matter what you did, the dog wouldn't stop attacking. And if you didn't do something, the bigger dog was going to kill the smaller dog. But the only way to stop the bigger dog was to kill it. What would you do?"

Palla-Palla's brow furrowed. She swallowed.

"Palla-Palla doesn't know," she whimpered. Ves reached over and weakly grasped her sister's hand.

"And I hope to God you never have to find out," Ves exclaimed.

* * *

The Princess walked down the corridor leading toward the Royal Chambers in a somber mood. Her father had requested a meeting with her and she suspected she knew what it was about. As such, she rehearsed counter-arguments as she walked. Diana trailed behind her, less certain about what this meeting entailed. She was only certain that Usa was worried.

Half-expecting the entire elder senshi being there, instead the Princess only found her mother and father. That was a relief. Usa felt her odds were better facing two arguments than six. She took a seat at the dinner table, which was clear of any food at this moment, and waited for her father to initiate things. Diana leaped up onto a cabinet near the table and sat near, but not next to, her mother, Luna.

"I've looked over your report concerning the trip to Brasilia," Endymion began. He exhaled. "There are some troubling passages in it. Let me first say that you and your senshi acted in a stellar manner, with the exception of Sailor Vesta. This entire situation was exacerbated by Vesta's inability to follow rules and her incessant need to act on her own."

"I've already talked to her about that, Pop," Usa replied. "She felt the situation needed immediate action. You can debate whether it did or not, but she made a judgment call based on her knowledge of this Brasilian criminal that was threatening her friend." She glanced at her mother. "After all, it's not the first time a senshi has gone off on their own to face an enemy rather than go with the team. But I think I've impressed the advantages of teamwork on her."

"Fine. I'll let it go," Endymion said. "Then there's the matter of how this situation was resolved. Vesta killed this criminal."

"He didn't leave her a choice," Usa countered.

"I've seen the forensics report that the Sao Paulo police filed," Endymion persisted. "This Acosta was killed by a laser pulse to the head at point blank range. There is no possible scenario anyone can come up with that can make this a discharge in self-defense or in a struggle for the weapon. This man was executed."

"He was threatening people," Usa argued. "Sancha, her family, any other friends Ves might still have in Sao Paulo, even us. He was going to pursue this vendetta until Ves was dead and maybe beyond."

"From prison?" Endymion asked. "Because the contents of that download you had me decrypt would have put him away for a long time."

"Ves said he would," Usa answered. "I believe her. Given some of the things he did just to get at her, I wouldn't put it past him for a minute."

"Usa, I've had experience with people like that," Serenity spoke up. "It doesn't give you the right to kill them."

"But by doing nothing, aren't you condemning all the innocent people his actions are going to affect to a life of fear?" Usa asked. "How is that right? I've seen what kind of misery one person can inflict on innocent people when they don't care about the harm they do. If you can prevent that, aren't you obligated to do it - - as guardians of peace?"

Endymion and Serenity exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"I'm not saying it's an easy answer, or even that it's preferable," Usa continued. "You're right, Mom, we don't have the right to kill - - none of us. But sometimes we have to - - to protect innocent people who just want to live their lives without pain and fear. Ves made the call and it was the best call she thought she could make out of a couple of really rotten choices she had. If you had been there, maybe you could have done it differently. But we're not you, Mom. Sometimes the only choice we have is to either let evil flourish or stop it the only way we know will work."

"Bravo, My Lady," Diana said softly. She received a stern glare from Luna.

"I'm not saying Ves is a bad person, Honey," Serenity said, timidly avoiding her daughter's gaze. "It's just - - she's going down a path that could lead to her becoming something she despises now. And by you defending her, you may be going down that same path. And that worries me."

"You're afraid we're going to become as bad as the people we take out?"

"Don't make light of it," Serenity replied firmly. "There's never been a killer in all of the history of humanity who hasn't killed at least once. And you can rationalize it all you want, but it's still killing."

"Just like all prosthetics are bad just because some of them are misused?" Usa observed.

"It's hardly the same thing," Serenity frowned.

"It's 'situational assessment versus blanket condemnation'," Usa argued. "I thought it was a pretty good comparison, in a generalized sense."

Serenity huffed. "I really hate it when you start going 'intellectual' on me," she fussed.

"So if you're going to condone murder," Endymion asked, "what else are you going to condone?"

"That assumes you define this as murder, I think," Usa countered.

"Does vigilantism fit better?" Endymion bristled. "You can play semantics all you want, Usa. The bottom line is Ves took the law into her own hands. That's a dangerous act, no matter the circumstances, and by condoning it you could be setting an equally dangerous precedent. As a leader, you have to be careful about doing things like that. You can't let over-confidence in your ability to handle things blind you to the possible effects your decision might have for the future."

Usa digested this. It always annoyed her when her parents came up with an argument she hadn't already thought of.

"Are you going to get rid of Ves?" Usa asked point blank.

"That would be the easy thing to do," Endymion replied. "And in my opinion, cutting her loose from a positive environment would only hasten the descent your mother and I foresee for her. She has a better chance to get her life in order here than somewhere without the positive influences of the other Asteroids, of the elder senshi, of you and of this society in general - - immodest as that might sound. And, given the history of this man she executed, it is within the realm of possibility that what she did was the only thing that could possibly have avoided further tragedy."

He leaned in for emphasis.

"But life is not going to keep giving her second chances," Endymion told her. "As her friend and her leader, you need to impress that upon her. And the best way may not be defending her out of loyalty if it comes at the expense of some of the principles you've dedicated your life to upholding. There may come a day when you'll have to decide if she's worth the price you'll have to pay to save her."

Usa burned with frustration and regret.

"We're only saying this because, as your parents and as two people who love you, we're trying to impress on you the cliff you might be skating close to," Serenity added gently. "Say 'hello' to Helios for us."

Walking to Helios's quarters, Usa was very quiet. Diana followed her, glancing up with concern.

"They're only concerned about you, My Lady," Diana advised her.

"Yeah," Usa sighed. "But I think this is one of those 'no right answer' things Helios always talks about." She was about to engage the signal at Helios's door, then stopped. The Princess thought a moment. "Maybe I should check on Ves first."

Conclusion


End file.
